The Law of Unintended Consequences
by Escoger
Summary: After death, Lily Potter returns to the past in hope of achieving a different outcome. She hopes to reunite with her husband while keeping her former best friend Severus Snape from becoming a death eater. However her choices change them.JPLP,eventual SSLE
1. Returning to the Past

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 1**

**Returning to the Past**

_I shall return to my love..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

There was a flash of green light, which Lily Potter, formerly Lily Evans, didn't even attempt to dodge, secure in the knowledge that her sacrifice here would save her son from death. There was a loud rushing noise, and then...

Lily found herself suddenly found herself staring at a blue, cloudless sky. She sat up and found herself in a strange place, a seeming hodgepodge of two places that she had known in life; on one side was a small thicket of trees with a stream running alongside it, on the other side was the house she had just died in. She then called out for her husband, hoping that, if he was dead, she might find him here, "James! James! Where are you!? JAMES!"

Not seeing or hearing any sign of her husband in life, Lily was rather confused; she had always expected that she might see him in the afterlife when they died. 'How strange... I wonder where James is? Maybe, just maybe, he survived, considering he isn't here...'

As she hoped that James had somehow survived, she caught herself staring at how it seemed the stream suddenly melded with the house where the two met; it seemed like the stream was flowing, then the water somehow became the floorboards, seamlessly. Lily was looking at this strange phenomenon, trying to puzzle it out, when she suddenly heard a noise coming from above, a slight humming.

Looking up, she saw a glowing silver ball slowly floating down. She moved to draw her wand in case it was hostile, but it wasn't in her pocket; upon looking, she found herself in a red and gold robe which, although extremely heavy looking, was actually so light as to be completely unnoticable. Realizing that there was little she could do, she simply stood up and looked warily at the silver ball as it stopped, floating gently no more than two or three feet off of the ground.

Looking more closely at it, she realized that, although it was nearly opaque, a silhouette of something vaguely humanoid could be seen on the edge of it, and there seemed to be a small aura of energy surrounding the ball, causing the glow. Suddenly she heard a voice inside her mind. 'Lily Potter I presume. I presume that you are wondering what is going on?'

Lily spoke aloud in response, more than a little nervous, but she mastered her uncertainty with sheer bravado, saying impatiently, "Yes, I am she, and you are right. What the hell is going on here?"

She could have sworn she heard the voice in her head chuckle, then it continued, unfazed by her rudeness 'I am what you may consider an angel of fates. You see, there are many universes, of which the one you left is but one of them. Each of these universes are born by a change in the fate of the world, and then end when the fate of the world is an unavoidable death. In your world, the actions which have been taken by the people of your world will lead to a relatively benign fate, but there are others wherein those same people made different choices, leading to the destruction of their world.'

Lily understood what he was saying, more or less, but unsure where he was going with this, so she said, "So, what would this mean for me? Why are you telling me all of this? I mean, I'm already dead, so why would it matter?"

The voice of the angel then laughed slightly and continued, 'You see, Mrs. Potter, when a universe is destroyed, what we typically do is take the energy created from its destruction, and then use it to make a copy of a benignly fated universe, with minor changes. It just wouldn't do for us to copy them exactly, as that would lead to multiple universes dying if that particular universe was fated to die. These minor changes come from us changing a single person, one whose choices could have made a great difference for good or ill in the outcome of the fate of their world. In this case, we have selected you to be the one to cause these changes.'

Lily, nervous again, but still curious, asked him quietly, "What do you mean by 'cause these changes'?"

'We mean inserting your soul into that of the Lily of the new time-line. You would be replacing your fourteen year old self, and you would have the opportunity to change your actions for good or ill. You could relive your life but better, and maybe even cause a superior fate to the one that your world will be undergoing...'

Lily suddenly interrupted, "But I thought you said that our world would have a good outcome!"

Sounding a tad annoyed at being interrupted, the voice continued, 'I said that it would have a relatively benign outcome, but your world will be badly damaged by two wizarding wars nonetheless. You have the opportunity here to change the future of your world for the better; given your personality, I have no doubt that, given your personality, you will accept, but I must give you the option to decline nonetheless.'

Lily was annoyed at his assumption, but couldn't deny that he was correct, so, somewhat sullenly, she asked, "So I will get to see James and all of my friends again?"

'Yes. Your friends will be identical to how they were at the age of fourteen, although after that is up to you. After all, Our actions and choices always have consequences. For example, if you had made different choices, then Peter Pettigrew might have ended up not betraying you, or James Potter might have given up on you, or Severus Snape might never have joined the Death Eaters. Every choice we make has its own results; you have been given the gift of knowing what some of those choices might lead to.'

Lily, outraged, shouted, "Are you saying that Snape's choices and Pettigrew's betrayal are my fault!?"

'Yes and no. Snape and Pettigrew made their own choices, but they might have had or made different choices had you made different ones. Now then, this conversation is starting to tire me. Have you made your choice Mrs. Potter, or I suppose, Miss Evans?"

In the end, Lily knew that she would have no real choice, given how she always had to do the 'right' thing, no matter how much it might hurt her, although sometimes doing the 'right' thing only seemed to end up in more pain for everyone. Besides, while she severely doubted that Pettigrew could have been changed much, she had wondered a number of times in her life whether or not she could have stopped her former best friend from going so wrong, and this gave her a great opportunity to try and find out. As such, Lily nodded to the angel and whispered, "Yes..."

**Author's Note: **This story is based off of a mass of similar fanfics in this particular fandom wherein Snape gets the chance to relive his life and change it; for example, 'The Moment it Began' by Sindie. In this one, Lily is getting her chance to go back and make a difference. Now then, I am going with the approach that she doesn't hate Snape, but she hates what he has become and would like to change that if she can; if she had known what he has done for his love for her, she might realize that, just by staying at his side, she might be able to stop him from becoming a death eater, but she does not know what he did to try to save her, nor what he will do in the future to atone for his failure.

The theme of this fic is one of my usual favorites, the consequences of our actions. Lily's actions will have consequences that she does not expect, for both good and ill...

For those of you who have read my previous fic, I will NOT be engaging in an excessive level of James-bashing in this fic, although I might do some without intending to.

**Revised March 23, 2009**


	2. Lily's Plan, Snape's Reasons

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 2**

**Lily's Plan, Snape's Reasons**

_The principles of uncertainty..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

"Ugh! My head!"

Lily Pott...Evans slowly sat up in her bed and looked around; it was the same bed that she had slept in for all of her Hogwarts years, with the same gash in the corner of the mattress as before. 'I wonder if it was still there when I died. It certainly lasted through all the spells during school that I used to fix it.'

Moving her thoughts to other matters, Lily then thought, 'Well, at least that angel-guy doesn't seem to have lied. Hmm, let's see what I can do differently; first of all, I'm going to make certain that I get together with James earlier than I did. I almost lost him to Sabrina Percival last time around before I wised up; luckily, that should be pretty easy to do considering he has that massive crush on me at this time. All I will really have to do is accept an invitation to Hogsmeade or two from him this time around and things should go smoothly.'

She then brought her thoughts to the main thing that she had always regretted from her time in Hogwarts, the fact that she had lost her best friend and that he had gone over to the side of the Death Eaters. 'On the bright side, that angel seemed to indicate that it is indeed possible to prevent that particular event from happening; I certainly hope that I am able to change Severus before it is too late... Let's see, it's time to brainstorm Mrs. Potter...Hmm, maybe if I make it clearer to him that things will go badly for him if he joins the Death Eaters then he will change his mind about joining them. I could also see if I could get him some more friends from non-Slytherin houses; that way, he would have more reasons to stay on the side of light, since obviously he didn't care enough about me to stay on it.'

She then considered the problem of James bullying Severus. 'Well, that shouldn't be too hard to deal with. After I started dating him, he stopped bullying him completely just because I asked him too. Since I am planning to start dating James earlier, that should clear up in a hurry. Still, I had better play a little hard to get, otherwise James might not really care about that particular request, as it would seem unnecessary... I mean, even after James stopped bullying Severus, the two of them hated each other's guts...'

Lily then chuckled sadly, 'When I asked Severus if he might be willing to come to the wedding, so we could forgive and forget maybe, even if we could no longer be friends anymore, his owl's response said 'While I would certainly be willing to agree to this 'forgiving and forgetting', I will never go to any social event that has POTTER in it, for he made my life a living hell during our school years...'.'

She decided to work on that particular issue a little later and came to the Pettigrew problem. 'The problem with Pettigrew is that, plain and simple, he is a sycophantic worm, and a boil on the Marauders' collective behinds. He was willing to betray us awfully quickly after he became our secret keeper; even if it was under torture, he certainly didn't last very long. Now then, the real issue here is how to deal with him; I can't tell James anything about being from the future, as he would think that I am most likely insane, and see if he could send me to St. Mungo's...'

Thinking for a moment, Lily came to a simple conclusion, 'What that means, is that I have to either find a way to drive him out of the Marauders completely, something very hard, or make him never want to betray us, also something very hard. Even if Severus ended up joining Voldemort, he was still far braver than Pettigrew will ever be; I still remember the time that Severus held James and I off for on his own several minutes so that one of his allies could get away.'

'How are we going to be able to keep Pettigrew from betraying us under torture when his bravery is basically nonexistant?' Lily sighed again and decided to think about that problem later, for right now, unless she was mistaken, she could hear Mary Macdonald calling her that it was time for breakfast. She opened the curtain to her four-poster and checked the calender to see what day it was, October 6th, 1974.

She then went down for breakfast, she was once again a growing girl after all, and her stomach was happy to inform her of that fact...

* * *

Upon arriving down in the Great Hall, it was like a scene right out of Lily's past, of course that is because it was; James and his fellow Marauders were entertaining their fellow Gryffindors by having a transfiguration contest by trying to turn their goblets into forks, then balancing them atop each other, while Severus had his nose buried in some book while eating his bacon and eggs absentmindedly, although whenever Avery or Mulciber turned to say something to him, he would respond, sometimes with a laugh, and sometimes by saying something quickly. 'Hmm, how to play this out...'

"Oi! Evans! Check this out!" James proceeded to cast a spell that created a number of red and gold sparks, which he quickly arranged so that the gold ones made up the letters 'JPXLE', with the red ones acting as a background. Lily groaned exasperatedly as it had taken her until they were married to break him of that particular habit where he would embarrass her like that. She glanced over at the Slytherin table to see Severus glowering at James again and rolled his eyes.

'Why does he always get so annoyed when James does that? I mean, at this point, James had been doing it for a year with little to no effect, and its not like me going out with James would have ruined our friendship, although...Although maybe he is afraid that if I start dating James then I will forget about him; it would make sense I suppose, considering how James always treated him. Well, this time he won't have to worry about that, not if I can help it!' Nodding as she concluded her bit of musing, Lily then shouted,

"Sod off James!"

Then Sirius yelled, "Woah! Prongs, you must be getting to her! She never said 'James' before!" Lily berated herself for the slip; she hadn't started calling James Potter by his first name until well into his sixth year. Meanwhile, the two Marauders started laughing again as Pettigrew finally lost the fork-balancing contest, nearly getting hit in the eye with one of the forks in the process of his pile falling. Meanwhile, she noticed Severus walking over to the Gryffindor table and waited to see what he would ask. He obliged and asked her quietly,

"Lily. How bout we meet together in the library later today to review our potions? I think that I have a new idea for the 'draught of living death' that I would like to try out."

Although Lily, in her work as an Auror, had far surpassed anything taught in Hogwarts, she knew that this would be an excellent opportunity for her to start trying to rescue her best friend, so she accepted immediately, only to have Sirius suddenly shout, sneering at Severus as he did so, "Hey Snivellus! I heard you got a 'T' in your last potions class because your greasy nose dripped into your cauldron!"

Severus was about to respond, but Lily put her hand on his shoulder and gave a pointed look at the Marauders. Nonetheless, Severus glowered at the Marauders as he made his way back to the Slytherin table and they responded with sneers of their own. 'This could be a lot harder than I thought...' Lily knew that, if she wanted to be able to keep Severus as her best friend and keep her relationship with James, she would almost certainly need to find some way to get them to be able to spend time in the same room together without a war breaking out. _**

* * *

**_

**_Two Weeks Later Wednesday October 20th, 1974_**

Lily screamed into the pillow on her four-poster bed. 'THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Every single argument I make to him about his friends he has an excuse ready and waiting for me, just like the last time around! I mean, I tell him that Mulciber is getting more and more sadistic, and he says that its just a phase he is going through; I tell him that Avery has some of the markings of a future rapist, and he says that he is just a tad too aggressive! How the hell am I going to get through to Severus about his friends!?'

Over the past two weeks, Lily had been using every opportunity she possessed to try to make Severus see reason, but it was going basically the same time as it had the last time around. On the bright side, she thought that her plan with James was going well; he had at least stopped calling her Evans and started calling her Lily. Still, that was the easy part, the hard one was figuring out how to rescue her best friend. Finally Lily, unsure and starting to enter into a mild state of panic, said aloud, "OK Lily, calm down. There must be something you missed..."

"Missed in what?" Lily whirled around and saw that her friend Mary Macdonald, a tall, slender Gryffindor fourth year with long brown hair, brown eyes, and an eternally serious face, had come into the room while she had been talking to herself. She was about to say that it was nothing, when she thought of something. Mary hadn't disliked Severus very much until after the Mulciber incident, which if she recalled correctly, wasn't for another couple of weeks. Besides, it couldn't hurt to get a second opinion, so she instead replied,

"It's about Sev. I am trying to make him see that those future-Death Eater boys aren't any good for him and they will drag him down a dark path, but every time I try to show them how bad they are, he makes an excuse for them. Do you know what I am doing wrong?"

Mary sat down and put her finger to her rather thin lips in that 'thinking pose' she had always liked to do, then she said, "Um, you make excuses for him all the time don't you? Wouldn't he be the same way with his friends? He even has the excuse that none of his friends ever go after you, while you can't say the same; after all, he is always quite rude to everyone other than his buddies or you..."

Lily groaned a little as she remembered that; she had forgotten how she had always tried to make excuses for why he liked the Dark Arts so much and it had taken her until the 'Mudblood' incident in fifth year before she was willing to give up. Severus was, if it was possible, even more stubborn than she was, and it was unlikely that any of his friends would ever do something to her that would make him give up on them; even after Severus and her had stopped being friends they had never attacked her. 'Argh, what am I doing wrong?'

Mary then glanced at her and asked, curious, "Um Lily, why exactly does Snape want to join the Death Eaters so much if he is friends with you? I mean, the Death Eaters want to 'cleanse' wizarding society by removing all of the 'filthy muggleborns', at least from what we hear in the Daily Prophet, and I know that you are his best friend. Why would he even be interested in them if they are trying to exterminate you and people like you?"

Lily quickly replied, "Well that is because...um..." She thought for a moment, then realized that she really wasn't all that sure. "...I never really asked him cus I just wanted him to stop trying to practice the Dark Arts and become a Death Eater. I mean, I don't care why he is trying to becoming a Death Eater; I just want to stop him from trying to become one, that's all."

Mary chuckled slightly, then said seriously, "Lily, It might be a good idea to ask your best friend something like that, don't you think? I mean, how are you going to persuade him that they are bad if you never find out why he thinks that they are good? Its basic psychodelichology-whatever."

Lily snorted at Mary's purposeful misuse of the word 'psychology', but couldn't help but think that maybe Mary was on to something. At the least, it couldn't hurt...

**Author's Note: **Lily, as you might expect, even after becoming an adult, is still quite naive. She still sees things too much in black and white and can be a little too trusting. Obviously, does she realize that Pettigrew had already been a traitor before he had turned the information over to Voldemort, norshe doesn't realize that James lied to her about him not bullying Snape anymore. The latter of these two things leads to the VERY optimistic assumption of it being possible for the Marauders and Severus to become friends.

Based on her personality, I don't believe that she ever tried to figure out WHY Snape was interested in the Death Eaters, only that he was interested and she had to get him out of them.

**Revised March 26, 2009**


	3. The Road to Hell

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 3**

**The Road to Hell...**

_Dragged down by our best qualities..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**Three Days Later Saturday October 23rd, 1974**_

James Potter smiled happily as he got ready for the day; it had been a fairly trying week, what with four major homework assignments, one of which he had forgotten about until the night before it was due, having to deal with Snivellus trying to steal his girl-James knew that Lily and himself weren't quite together yet, but he could tell that she had really started to come around-, and this whiny first year Hufflepuff girl who kept pestering him about getting his autograph until James had no choice but to hex her.

On the bright side though, now that it was the weekend, it was the perfect time to relax, and he was doing so by re-reading _Quidditch Through The Ages_ for the fourth time, laughing as he considered ideas to improve his game. He was pretty sure that he had come with a few when suddenly, Sirius ran into the room and yelled, "Oi! Prongs! I just heard from Sabrina that those Death Eater-wannabes Avery and Rosier hexed Alexandra Gregory last night! Apparently it was pretty bad as she had to go to the hospital wing. It was something about having a trunk instead of a nose!"

James snorted a little at the thought, but quickly became serious. Gryffindor house simply couldn't afford to let the Slytherins have free reign and hex any Gryffindor they pleased, and it was the duty of the Marauders to punish them. 'We have to show them that there are consequences to their actions! Besides, I've been a little too nice to Snivellus this week; its time that I showed him the penalty for trying to corrupt innocent girls, especially my future girlfriend!' He then stood at rigid attention and said sternly, trying to contain his laughter and barely succeeding,

"Padfoot. In the name of Godric Gryffindor and his most noble house, we must attempt to bring justice down upon those freaks in the ancient and evil house of Salazar Slytherin. As attacking Avery or Nott could lead to fierce retaliation upon Gryffindor house, it is our duty to attack someone who is not likely to cause any retribution upon Gryffindor, for the sake of the children..."

Snorting, Sirius played along, saying with equal false-seriousness, "Indeed Prongs, I shall round up the men, then we shall bring our wrath down upon the evil forces of Snivellus Snape!"

"So shall it be!" Then the two boys burst into laughter as they prepared for their 'sacred mission'.

Although Remus did his usual wet blanket routine, claiming that it probably wasn't quite fair that they were attacking Snape when he hadn't done anything wrong in particular, the two boys had soon collected Pettigrew and, using the Marauder's Map, soon found Snape reading outside, by the lake. Sirius then said quietly, "OK, ready Marauders? Let's go!"

_"Expelliarmus!"_

_"Petrificus Totalus!"_

_"Furnunculus!"_

Snape collapsed, his book blasted away into the lake, with the _Petrificus Totalus _and _Furnunculus _spells leaving him immobile and covered in boils. He glared at them as they, and the other students taking advantage of the cool autumn weather, started to laugh, then James shouted, "That's what you get Snivelly for straying too close to your betters! Stay away from Lily if you know what's good for you!"

The other two Marauders chimed in, "Yeah! She might get too covered in your slime!" "Nice boils, Snivellus! I think they improve your appearence

As Snape, who couldn't say anything, glared at the them, the three boys then returned to the great hall for a late breakfast, happy that, at the least, Slytherin had been justly punished...

* * *

The clock struck eleven and Lily frowned. Severus was supposed to have been in their potions classroom fifteen minutes ago, and she was starting to get a little worried. Suddenly, the door burst open and Severus stomped in, muttering under his breath. Annoyed at his lateness, but relieved that he had made it, Lily crossed her arms and looked at her friend sternly, then said accusingly, "Your late!"

Severus looked angry a moment, then sighed, saying with a touch of impatience, "Sorry Lily, I ran into three little toerag and got stuck for a while. Can we get started on our Blood-Replenishing potion now? I think I have a couple of ideas to speed up the brewing process.'

Remembering that toerag was usually Severus' code for Marauder, as it was both insulting, and a convenient way to refer to the group, at least in his opinion, Lily decided to let it go for now and give James a stern talking to later, as she really wanted him to mature and stop attacking Severus BEFORE sixth year rolled around. Deciding that it would be best to ask him why he was interesting in the Death Eaters when he was more comfortable, Lily started talking about something else, "Sev, did you hear about Sabrina? Apparently, the night before last she divinned in her teacup that tonight she was going to be attacked by a swarm of angry owls, so she decided to lock herself in her trunk until morning."

Severus snorted at that, then replied, "Yeah, Evan told me that, while she went to go use the loo, he moved her tea leaves around in her cup. Apparently, there is a pool going around about whether or not she will squeal if someone brings an owl too near to her tonight at dinner." At Lily's look of annoyance, he said defensively, "Hey, you have to admit its kinda funny, and its pretty tame compared to what the toerags can get up to."

Although she knew intellectually that he was right, part of her was angry that he was badmouthing her future husband. Nevertheless, she controlled herself without too much trouble and said calmly, "Yeah, I suppose you are right Sev. Still, it wasn't very nice of him."

Severus looked oddly at her, then said with a shrug, "I suppose not. In any case, I think its time to add the ginger-root to the potion."

They did so, then Severus smiled at her slightly while letting his long hair hide most of his face, before saying with a tone of both hope and worry, "Hey Lily. I was thinking... it has been a while since we've been to Hogsmeade together; after all, school has only just started a couple months ago. Well, I was wondering if would you like to come with me next weekend..."

As he let his sentence hang, Lily was remembering that in fourth year they had started going more and more often with other people and only meeting one another there; it had been one of the causes of their growing apart in the original time-line, and something she wanted to prevent this time around, so she was happy to say, "Sure! I'd love to."

For some reason, Severus' face went red as he blushed, making Lily smile slightly as she had always liked it when he stopped trying to do an imatation of a man made of stone. Realizing that this was probably as good a time as any, considering that his guard seemed to be down, Lily then asked, "So Sev. I was wondering... I mean I spend a lot of time asking you and such..." Lily was getting nervous because she knew instinctually that this would be very important for them, so she wanted to say it properly. Meanwhile, Severus just looked confused at what she was saying, raising his eyebrows and staring at her as she started to twiddle her thumbs in her anxiety.

Finally, Lily felt that she was being ridiculous, so she just went right out and said it, "Sev. Why are you interested in becoming a Death Eater? I mean, what interests you about that path...?"

* * *

Severus Snape was shocked; even though she was his best friend, Lily had never really shown any signs of wanting to know anything about his 'weird obsession' as she called it, but rather just to have him give it up because it was evil. Whenever he tried to explain to her, she just said that it was wrong and evil and would leave it at that, after telling him to give it up, as well as his friends in Slytherin House.

Of course, Severus knew better; just because the Death Eaters had some unusual ideas didn't mean that they, or the Dark Lord, were evil, in spite of their bad publicity. All it meant was that people feared Voldemort for his power and his ideas. In spite of his surprise, he was happy that Lily had finally decided that she wanted to hear him out, so he quickly started to explain, as he had been rehearsing for the last year,

"OK, the thing to understand first, is that the Death Eaters and their objectives are really misunderstood by the majority of society. As such, you have to be ready to look at things from multiple angles. For example, the whole 'They hate all Muggleborns and Muggles' thing is probably a load of...ahem; the people who write all these stories about the Death Eaters are, more or less, working for the Ministry of Magic."

Wanting to be absolutely clear that he wasn't completely stupid in his beliefs, as it sounded a little far-fetched, Severus continued carefully, "Of course they would be willing to spread lies about them; if the Death Eaters get in power, they will lose all of their own, and there is nothing that politicians hate more than losing power. I mean, I don't doubt that they would get rid of the bad ones, like my dad and stuff, but what kind of idiot would slaughter their own people for no reason whatsoever other than their birth." He rambled slightly, but tried to keep to his point.

Lily, rather than interrupting, was listening intently, eyes glowing as she seemed to be trying to read his very soul through his eyes. Shuddering without fear as he felt her firey gaze burning in his own eyes, he continued, "Second, the Death Eaters have some really good ideas about how to deal with some of the problems we have had lately; one problem we have is that, quite simply, the Ministry of Magic is too cumbersome, each member of it tries to deal with its problems in a different way, causing chaos."

He then swallowed, before saying, "If the Dark Lord were in charge, we would have focused control of the nation. Also, even if their ideas about wizardkind dying out are a bit stupid, they are right about how we have left a great deal of our knowledge fade away because learning about it was deemed evil. For example, I heard that Durmstrang teaches its students a great deal more about various types of magic than the Ministry allows."

Lily finally interrupted, clearly annoyed at his speech, "That doesn't sound so bad, but it just sounds like Death Eater propoganda to me. Why have YOU decided that you are interested in them is what is important to me."

Cursing mentally that he had allowed his speech to get too rehearsed and rote, he decided to get to the point, "OK, first of all, I have a few really good friends who are joining them, and they think that it would be fun if the three of us could keep together after we join them. Of course, I would still work in potions with you like we planned, but that way I would be able to stay close to my other friends as well. It would be like joining one of those Quidditch team fan-clubs, but better!

Severus then said quietly as he looked away for a moment, wanting to be completely truthful since this was apparently his one, big shot to clear the air about the Death Eaters and his reasons for joining, but still a little ashamed of his reasons, "Also, I can't deny that the idea of being able to dish out some punishment on people like my dad and the toerags doesn't make me feel...pretty happy."

He then looked back into her piercing green eyes and said with a touch of embarrassment, feeling a thrill at how her eyes were completely focused on him, The main reason though, is because well... if I became a Death Eater and helped save Great Britain, then I would be a hero... and that would make yo...people I care about proud of me. I know it will be dangerous, but I think that it is really the right thing to do."

Suddenly, he realized that their blood-replenishing potion was finished, so he filled up a few vials and bid Lily farewell, embarrassed at how close he had come to saying that the main reason that he wanted to join them was to impress her. After his little speech, she had looked down and just stared at the floor, not saying anything, so he was a little worried about her, but he really had to get to the library. Potter's _expelliarmus_ had blasted his DADA textbook deep into the lake after all, and it wasn't like he would have enough money to buy a new copy anytime soon...

* * *

Lily slowly walked back to her dorm, ignoring Sabrina and Alexandra when they asked what was going on or tried to tell her a little gossip, as it just didn't seem that important to her right then. What Severus had told her changed everything; as he spoke, she realized that changing his path would be both easier to understand, and harder to do, than she had expected because his reasons weren't simply to slaughter all Muggleborns.

The problem was, it was his best qualities that were leading him down the road to hell he was on; his loyalty to his friends, his careful skepticism towards those he felt he couldn't trust, and his desire to be a hero were all pointing him down that road. This meant that trying to help him become a better person wouldn't help because it was his better qualities that were turning him down the road to evil.

Lily also remembered that Voldemort hadn't really started showing his colors until their sixth year, so if she was going to change him, she had to find a way to convince him that, yes, the rumors about the Death Eaters were all true, and that his so-called friends had probably just been using him, as she had always claimed. The hardest part would be getting him out before it was really too late; by the time that the truth about voldemort had really started coming out, trying to leave the Death Eaters or the organizations they used to recruit future ones had been possible only through death, even if one hadn't taken the mark yet.

What this all meant, was that she had to find some way to show Severus that, yes, the Death Eaters were as bad as everyone said, or she would have to destroy everything about her friend that had made her admire him in the first place. His ambition to be great and his loyalty to his friends were two of his best qualities, even if they hadn't always applied to her; she had to find some way to get him out without making him betray those qualities unless she wanted to create someone she wouldn't want as a best friend.

'Ugh, this is going to take a LOT of work. It would be SO much easier if he thought he was trying to do something wrong, but felt he had no choice. Speaking of which, that reminds me. I have to go yell at my future husband some for picking on my best friend. Why can't the two of them at least try to get along!? I mean, its mostly James' fault, but it would make things soooo much easier if they gave each other a chance...'

**Author's Note: **Obviously I am going with a very unusual approach for Severus, but think about it. Very few people actually think that they or evil or want to be, and Severus obviously thought that Lily would be impressed with his joining of the Death Eaters. I doubt he would be that interested in joining an organization that he really thought would end up trying to do in his best friend and the girl he loved. Also, given his unwillingness to leave the Death Eaters outside of Gryffindor tower, when it all went to hell, he likely thought that being in that organization was doing the right thing.

I am willing to bet that Severus would give up anything that he believed was wrong if Lily merely asked, with the possible exception of turning Potter into a piece of burnt toast, so if he hasn't been willing to change over the course of at least two years for her, he has to believe that, either 'A', he is doing the right thing, or 'B', she doesn't care about it as much as she claims to. In this story at least, I am going with 'A'.

Lastly, I am pretty sure that Severus is the type of person who doesn't make that many friends, so I'd suspect that he would hold on to the ones he has twice as hard, another reason why Lily had such a dreadful time in canon trying to change his mind.

**Just so you all know, I probably won't be updating as frequently once my classes start.**

**Last Revised April 11th, 2009**


	4. Respect and Perceptions

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 4**

**Respect and Perceptions**

_Of pride and heroism..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Saturday October 23rd, 1974_**

"JAMES HAROLD POTTER!" Lily shouted, "WHY WERE YOU ATTACKING SEVERUS AGAIN!?"

James rolled his eyes as she came roaring down into the common room again, causing the whole common room to stare at the two of them, hoping for a good show; apparently Snape had blabbed about their little battle, so Lily, his protector, was here to annoy him about it. 'What a whining little git! Stuff like that should be kept between us, not blabbed to innocents like Lily! On the other hand, maybe she would be willing to go out on a date with me in return for keeping old Snivelly free from harm. Yeah, that sounds good.' As she got close, James grinned at her and messed up his hair a little, then he said,

"Why hello Lily; pleasant evening isn't it?"

He could see a spark of mirth or possibly annoyance jump into her eyes as she responded angrily, "Don't give me that! Why were you attacking Severus again!? He did nothing to provoke it, didn't he!?"

Sirius, who had been busy flirting with Mary again, much to her annoyance, said defensively, "Hey! The Slytherins provoked us first by hexing Alexandra again; we had to retaliate!"

Lily glared at Sirius then, eyes blazing as she said sarcastically, "And was Sev the one to hex Alexandra? Did Sev actually do anything? Or was it just because he happened to be a convenient, easy target?"

Sirius looked at James, eyes begging for help, so James said, lying through his teeth, "Well he was there laughing at her when Avery and Rosier did it, so he might as well have..."

Lily frowned thoughtfully, causing James to grin inwardly. 'Phew! Glad that that's over! I hate having to deal with Lily when she acts like this; she gets so touchy, even about worthless pieces of filth like Snivellus. It really is no fun.' Then Lily glared at him again and said coldly,

"You are lying. If Snape had been there laughing, then Sirius would have mentioned that first, as it would have given you guys a reasonable excuse, even if wasn't a good one. How cowardly of you, attacking someone who is easy to hit rather than someone who actually deserves to be hit."

As the other Gryffindors in the common room chuckled a little, James bristled at this and roared, brandishing his wand as he jumped out of his chair, "How dare you call me cowardly!? I was going to give you the chance to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend, but you can forget that now!"

Peter drew his wand too, shouting angrily, "Hey! Its not like he didn't deserve it anyway!"

James then noticed that Lily had drawn her own wand, without anyone noticing, then she said quietly, in a mild yet sarcastic tone of voice, "Well, that makes things convenient then; I was planning to go with Sev, but didn't want to break your heart, so that makes things much easier. Have a good evening Mr. Potter, and do try to act as if you are ten years of age at least, because it is clearly too tough for you to act your own age."

As the common room, minus the Marauders and a few of their supporters, laughed at him, James snarled; even though he really liked Lily, she was really embarrassing him this time. Usually she would just tell him off until he made some sort of excuse, then she would take time to think about it, but this time she had started using personal insults. Meanwhile, Lily turned her back on him and walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, ignoring him completely.

After the furor quieted down, Alexandra walked up to him and said shyly, "Um, thank you very much for avenging me James. It was really sweet of you."

James glanced at Alexandra Gregory, a third year Gryffindor; she was a black-haired, green-eyed witch who kept her hair in pigtails most of the time. She was fairly easy on the eyes, with a nice smile and an excellent rack, but, although she was awfully pretty, she just wasn't Lily. Nonetheless, James grinned back at her and said kindly, "It was nothing. I had to show those filthy Slytherins that no-one hexes the beautiful girls of Gryffindor house."

As hoped, Alexandra giggled and blushed before running off to talk to some of her friends. Meanwhile, James glared up towards the girl's dormitories. 'See Evans? She doesn't think that I am immature!'

* * *

'Ugh, what a headache.' Lily groaned as she laid on her bed, thinking about how her talk with James had gone. 'I know that its been a while since I saw how immature James used to be, but somehow he seems even more immature than I remembered. I mean, he didn't make stupid excuses like that the last time around to explain his behavior towards Severus had been, did he?' After a few minutes of thinking, she realized that the answer was, more or less, a surefire "Yes".

'I guess it will be a while before James matures again; if I remember correctly, he didn't grow up or stop hexing Severus until sixth and seventh year, although maybe I can hurry it up a bit this time around. Regardless, as much as I can hardly wait to be with the mature James again, my first priority has to be rescuing Sev from those awful Death Eaters. OK, Mrs...Miss Evans, it is time to think over this carefully; what did Sev tell me that I can use to help him?' Lily thought it over for several minutes, trying to come up with something that would make it easy to get him out, but getting him out would be extremely difficult, as it is very hard to convince someone to change if they truly believe that they are doing the right thing.

Then Mary came into the dormitory and raised her eyebrow at her, which was her way of saying "Start explaining now!", so Lily sighed and said, "I don't really want to talk about what happened with James down there, OK? I have a much bigger problem. It turns out that trying to help Severus not join the Death Eaters could be harder than I thought."

Mary then sat down on her own four-poster and faced Lily, who decided to stare at the top of her own one. Finally Mary asked, "What do you mean by that Lily? I mean, isn't joining the Death Eaters evil? So if Severus is as good as you always claimed he was, wouldn't it be easy to persuade him?"

Lily then sat up and looked at one of her best friends in Gryiffindor, before replying, "The thing is, he's not doing it for the chance to torture or kill Muggleborns or things like that, but rather because he wants to be with his friends and be a hero. You see, he doesn't think that the Death Eaters are really serious about the anti-Muggle stuff and what the Prophet is saying is mostly propaganda. The problem is that he isn't doing it for evil reasons, but for good ones, as, even though the Death Eaters are evil, he doesn't believe that they are as bad as they appear."

Mary frowned at this and put her finger to her lips again, seeming to be thinking very carefully; she had always been considered a tad strange by her fellow Gryffindors because she spent a great deal of time considering situations from multiple angles before coming up with an opinion when she felt that said situation was complicated, but that was very helpful in this case, because her calm, logical mind was exactly what Lily needed. Finally, she said, "I think that your best bet might be to change how attractive going against the Death Eaters is; from his point of view, he has to choose between his Slytherin friends and heroism, or what else? In his opinion, there is no reason to go against the Death Eaters because he gains nothing by doing so. What you need to do is to make going against them a more attractive option. As for how you could do that... well he is your best friend, not mine."

Mary then changed topics, "Now then, as for James Potter; I have to ask, what's changed all of a sudden. For the past four years, whenever he would hex your friend, you would yell at James a bit, but then let it go while flirting a little, but now all of a sudden you are getting up in his face about it, not that I disagree with you or anything, but what happened tonight is awfully strange."

Lily frowned and said, more than a little defensively, "Hey, I was just sticking up for Severus like I always do. Wasn't I?"

Mary sighed and said placatingly, "Hey, don't get angry, but until tonight, it seemed that you were spending about as much time flirting with James as you did yelling at him when you were telling him off. It never really seem like you were all that serious about it. Now then, unlike some people, I have to study really hard in order to do well on my homework, so good night for now."

As Mary went to grab her book, Lily's brow furrowed. 'Was that how it seemed to everyone else? Like I was FLIRTING when I told James off? Well, I'm gonna put a stop to that! When I flirt with him, it won't be when I'm yelling at him, that's for sure!'

* * *

**_Four Days Later Wednesday October 27th, 1974_**

Snape sighed exasperatedly as he handed the flask of Antivenom to Professor Slughorn at the end of class; over the past few weeks, Lily had somehow improved in her potions-making skills dramatically. It seemed that whenever he had a new idea for brewing a potion, she had already come up with it somehow.

If Lily hadn't been his best friend, he probably would have gotten quite annoyed and jealous, but since she was sharing these improvements with him anyway, it only meant that he had to spend less time on working out his ideas, because she could frequently tell him that it worked or didn't because she had somehow already tested it. That meant that he was able to blaze through the ideas, then come up with entirely new ones.

Nonetheless, although he still received perfect marks in potions, as well as more than a few house points for Slytherin, he was still all but ignored by the professor outside of class, whereas James and Sirius, who couldn't brew even a tenth as well as he could, got frequent invitations to special parties held by the professor. It wasn't like he wanted to go, unless he could take Lily too, but it would have been nice to be invited.

Luckily for him, it was now free period for both him and Lily, one of the few times each week that neither of the two of them was either in class, or in Lily's case, tutoring, although she had said to him that she was considering dropping that after the Christmas holidays. What that meant was that they now had plenty of time to hang out and study together, like they had always enjoyed doing. 'Curse the fact that she was in a different house! That means we only share two classes together!' He quickly strode into the empty classroom they usually studied in down in the dungeons and smiled lightly, happy to see his best friend and the girl he was in love with.

She noticed him and flashed him one of her patented "I've got a clever idea" grins, which, like most of her grins, always made him go a little red in the face; he profusely thanked his long hair for being able to hide his blush, then Lily said, "Hey Sev, I was thinking about what you said Saturday...Why do you want to wait until you can join the Death Eaters..." She made a face. "... to be heroic? Why don't you try being heroic and great like you said you wanted to be now?"

Snape was getting pretty nervous and started pretending to look through his DADA textbook, which he had on loan from the library, to give him time to think over his response. Honestly, it was because he felt that he didn't have the power or skill necessary to do anything heroic at the moment, and was waiting until he had some before he put himself at risk. Nonetheless, he shaded the truth a little and said, putting the book down, "How would you have me going about being heroic at Hogwarts? I mean, its not like there is any big injustice going around, except for what those Marauders get up to..."

Lily smiled and said, "I was thinking...maybe you could persuade your friends to stop hexing Muggleborns and such, instead concentrating on the people who truly deserve it, like...Potter; its not like it is a huge thing, but it is something that I would think is heroic. If you could stop them, you would be admired a lot by the Muggleborns at Hogwarts... Plus, it might give Potter fewer excuses for going and hexing you."

Snape considered. 'Somehow I think she is being all Slytheriny again with this and she has another motive, and its not like I particularly care if I am admired much at Hogwarts, not really, but it might be an idea worth doing anyway. Lily would definitely love it if I did something like that, plus having Potter hex me less would be a nice bonus, and if my friends keep up with this hexing, they might get Lily involved... Still, I dunno...' In the end, Snape replied,

"If I do that though, it might cause some problems with my friendships with Avery and Mulciber; I don't have all that many friends. I am not like you after all. You are nice, talented, and prett-ahem."

Lily flushed slightly and seemed to look at him a little oddly, then she said, "Well, if they are really your friends, they won't have that much of a problem with you doing the right thing, and if not, do you really want friends like that? I mean, how would you like to be tormented by people because of your parents? If you think its wrong, I think you really should stand up to them. I mean, Remus Lupin never stands up to his friends really, even when he thinks that they are wrong; do you want to be like him? Besides, I'd bet that the Muggleborns in the school would want to be friends with their hero..."

Snape thought to himself. Although he VERY much disliked that she had brought up his father, she did have some very good points, and the idea of being a hero and respected by people was awfully tempting, but most of all, the idea of being like any of the MARAUDERS was truly appalling. He would NEVER allow himself to be compared to them in any way which resulted in him being similar to any of them, his pride just wouldn't allow that...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Friday October 29th, 1974_**

Mary Macdonald frowned as she looked at her marks for her potions homework. 'A 'P' is not a very good sign for my chances this term. I really need to study harder if I am going to pass potions this year; it would be awfully embarrassing if I were held back. Maybe I could get some help from Lily to turn my grade around... She ALWAYS does well in that class, and seems to be doing especially well this term.' She then smirked a little. 'At least I am not doing nearly as badly as Lupin though; I strongly believe that after the O.W.L.s next year, he will be ORDERED by the Minister of Magic himself to avoid all potions like the plague...'

Noticing that the hallway she was in was completely deserted, she realized that she must have made a wrong turn, because she had gone deeper into the dungeons rather than leaving it. She decided to turn around to clear her head, when she heard a low voice saying, "Ah, it appears that we have a Mudblood spreading her slime in our dungeons."

Whirling, her eyes narrowed, she saw who was speaking just in time for him to shout, _"Furnunculus!"_

Mary threw herself to the side, allowing her to dodge the jet of yellow light, but missed the follow-up _Levicorpus _spell, causing her to yell, "Put me down Mulciber!"

Mulciber only laughed as she heard several other Slytherins passing by, even if she couldn't see them. Finally Mulciber said, "Alright Mudblood! _Libracorpus! Levicorpus! Libracorpus!"_

That caused her to drop to the ground head-first, rise back up, then drop to the ground again. As she tried to keep herself from crying, she was glad that she had chosen to wear pants under her robes today, as that would have only made it more horrifying for her. She shouted, barely holding off tears, "Stop it! Please!"

As she heard someone behind her, she heard Mulciber call out, laughing, "Hey Severus! Did you want to join in too for once!? This Mudblood thinks that she can pollute our hallowed halls! Personally, I think that she should be sent packing, just like any other Muggle, how about you?"

'Severus Snape? He's Lily's friend right? Maybe he will help me.' She was about to call out, begging for help, for she didn't have much else to worry about pride-wise considering that she had finally lost the battle to stop her tears, when Mulciber shouted another spell,

_"Langlock!"_

As her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, she saw Snape walk slowly past her, then turn around to look at her, gaze unreadable as he seemed to consider something. Mary's eyes pleaded with him to help her when Mulciber yelled out, "Hey Severus, how bout a good _Furnunculus _for the road? Whadaya say? Maybe we could get her to go home to her mum and dad!"

Seeming to come to a decision, Snape then turned and walked over to Mulciber...

**Author's Note: **Ah, a nice cliffhanger, I hope that you will enjoy it! Obviously, since this is a Lily from seven-odd years in the future, her perception of the people around her will be a bit different than before.


	5. The Way of Slytherin

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 5**

**The Way of Slytherin**

_The cunning of Severus Snape..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_One Day Later Saturday October 30th, 1974_**

'How interesting... Severus Snape has managed to get Gryffindor house into an uproar without even lifting a finger...' Mary Macdonald thought to herself as she sat alone in the Astronomy tower; normally her fellow Gryffindors would have been crowding around her, Hogsmeade visit or no, but she had managed to escape them so that she could ponder what had happened yesterday. Gryffindor house was in a frenzy over her attack the night before, as well as Snape's role.

In particular, Snape had managed to divide all of Gryffindor house with his actions; some of them, led by his best friend Lily Evans to no-one's surprise, were cautiously admiring of his actions the night before, while the majority, led by the Marauders, again to no-one's surprise, said that he had done what he had done solely out of self-interest and in order to protect his housemate from a just punishment. As for Mary herself, that was why she was pondering alone atop the Astronomy tower, to try to figure out exactly why Snape had done what he did. 'And what was that nod at the end signifying?'

_Flashback Yesterday Friday October 29th, 1974:_

_Seeming to come to a decision, Snape then turned and walked over to Mulciber and said, sighing, "Come on Arcturus, you should probably stop now; if you keep going any longer, the ickle little Gryffindor is likely to wet herself, and I don't fancy the smell of urine in our dungeons. Besides, unless I am mistaken, another class of potions has to use the room right over there, and I do not think that our housemates would appreciate you costing us house points over a Gryffindor..."_

_Arcturus Mulciber frowned at Snape, who had an expression of complete disinterest on his face, not even bothering to look at Mary, then sighed and said, "Fine then, _libracorpus! _Get going you stupid Mudblood!"_

_As he turned to leave, Snape followed, but not before looking back at Mary and nodding. She could then hear him talking to Mulciber about the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff; confused as to his actions, Mary then turned and left the dungeon by a different route, heading to the hospital wing..._

_End Flashback:_

'How...intriguing... There is really no way for me to be certain as to his motives at all; either Lily or the Marauders could be right about their opinions of him. It is really quite fascinating; although I admire the bravery of my fellow Gryffindors, none of them have the subtlety to outwit Hagrid, but, even with all of Gryffindor house trying to analyze his behavior, it is impossible for anyone to come to any definitive conclusion.'

One thing that Mary particularly liked was intriguing puzzles; when the Sorting Hat was put on her head, it said that she could go to any of Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, or Slytherin, but she chose Gryffindor because it would definitely include Lily Evans, who she had met, along with Severus Snape on the train when they shared her compartment, while complaining about two arrogant berks they had just met, and she had definitely found herself liking the vivacious Muggleborn. Besides, Slytherin had a very well known Pureblood prejudice, so it was really down to Ravenclaw or Gryffindor; still, Mary certainly appreciated the cunning of the average Slytherin, even if she wasn't one of them.

'Hmm, Lily has recently taken to trying to persuade various Gryffindors to consider befriending Severus; for me, that would be a win-win scenario. I would both get more opportunities to find out more about his motives, and I might get some help in potions, for everyone knows that both of them could split their total combined scores amongst the entire class and still receive an 'E' each. Even if I don't end up befriending him, it would certainly be worth doing...'

* * *

Lily wanted to whistle as she and Severus were walking to Hogsmeade; although Severus hadn't cut ties yet with the future Death Eaters in any real way, it was likely that his actions, if they continued in the same line, would eventually lead to a split with them, meaning that she would be able to keep her best friend on the side of the light. Grinning, Lily then said, "Sev, I'm so proud of what you did last night, what with protecting Mary from that detestable Mulciber. I know you like him, but he's really creepy, and I am glad that you stopped him from doing what he was going to do!"

Then, to her surprise, Severus replied, "Hey, it wasn't like he was doing anything truly awful; it was a laugh, that's all..."

"You think that was funny? If you hadn't stopped him, then Mary probably would have ended up in the hospital wing for days!"

_"What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?"_

_"What's Potter got to do with anything?" said Lily._

_"They sneak out at night. There's something weird about that Lupin. where does he keep going?"_

Lily frowned; it hadn't been until after James and her were engaged that she had finally found out the full story and the fact that Lupin was a werewolf for certain. 'Now that I think about it, Sev was being awfully good in this conversation the last time around. He really had nothing stopping him from telling me the full story and the fact that Lupin was a werewolf; instead, he just tried to hint it to me, making it sound like he was just suspicious. If he had told me about what had actually happened, I probably would have ended up putting James in the hospital wing because of his sheer hypocrisy in telling me about how he had saved Sev from something, but without ever saying that it was his and his mate's faults to begin with...'

Rather than continue with the same conversation as last time, Lily changed the subject back to the original one, "You still haven't told me what Potter has to do with any of this. The point was what Mulciber did, and how evil he and your other friend Avery are!"

Severus glared at her and replied angrily to her, "Potter has EVERYTHING to do with this; how can you always defend him, even though he puts me in the hospital wing all of the time, while blaming my friends for doing the same thing? The worst part is that you aren't even friends with Potter, while I am friends with Mulciber and Avery!"

Lily replied angrily before she could think about it, face reddening,"I defend you all of the time from Potter, even if its after the fact! Don't you dare blame me for this! If this is how you feel, then why did you even stop it in the first place!? Huh!?"

Severus breathed in and out a few seconds, seeming to try to control himself, then said calmly, "I did not know that you defend me in Gryffindor tower, and I thank you for that, but I wanted to make my point clear. Besides, even if I know why he did it, doesn't necessarily mean I agree that it was a good thing, and THAT is why I stopped him. The point was, if you think that Mulciber's bullying is evil, then so is Potter's. Think about it carefully and don't be such a Gryffindor; look for the subtle nuances!"

As the two of them continued to Hogsmeade, Lily started to wonder to herself aout what Severus had just said. 'I forgot that it was different from last time; this time around, Sev stopped Mulciber from using any really Dark Magic on Mary, meaning that he had a very good comparison to work with between Mulciber's bullying and James'...' A little voice in the back of her mind asked her if the fact that Mulciber used Dark Magic really made it any different, and Lily was forced to admit that, in all honesty, it didn't make that much of a difference in the effects. As such, there was only one real conclusion that she could honestly come to. 'If I am going to be able to blame Mulciber and Avery and still look myself in the mirror, I am going to have to stop what James is doing...'

* * *

Severus almost wanted to start skipping, almost; he had finally managed to get it through to Lily that what Potter and his mates and Arcturus and Justin were doing was basically the same thing, even though Arcturus and Justin often used so called 'Dark Magic' to do it. He hadn't even needed to bring up the werewolf incident from earlier that month to do so; not only that, but he had been able to persuade her while still managing to keep his friends who, while less important to him than Lily was, were still people he cared quite a lot about. Additionally, she was proud of him and he was taking her to Hogsmeade which, even though it wasn't a date, was an excellent opportunity to try to win her over.

He then thought to himself, smirking, 'I wonder if anyone ever worked out that the only potions class that met at the time Mary was attacked was on the opposite side of the dungerons. Oh well...'

Grinning as they came upon the Three Broomsticks, Severus asked Lily, "Hey, d'you think that we might be able to grab some butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks? My treat."

Lily, probably without thinking, said, "Sure Sev, I'd love to."

Severus smiled as the twosome went inside; it seemed that half of the clientele was made up of Gryffindors, no real surprise because the barmaid Madam Rosmerta was a former Gryffindor and was extremely well put together for a woman of her age, causing the Gryffindor men to practically drool every time they saw her. Looking around, his smile widened. 'Excellent, Potter and his gang are here; now it is time for the show...' While normally Severus hated every moment that Potter was within earshot, this time he had prepared the 'battlefield' nicely; if he played his cards right, he could simultaneously make Potter think that he was out on a date with Lily and show Lily just how rotten that Potter truly was.

Severus then turned to Lily, making sure that the already-scowling Potter was within earshot, and said, "Lily, why don't you go find us a table while I buy us the drinks, and maybe a little bit to eat?"

As he walked up to the counter, he felt the expected hand on his shoulder turning him around; not even needing to pretend how much he disliked him, he sneered at Potter, backed up by Black, who asked in a low voice, growling, "Hey Snivellus. What do you think that you are doing with Evans over there? You should know better than to try to steal girls from your betters."

Smiling inwardly as he walked closer and closer to the bar, where Madam Rosmerta had already started to glare at the three of them, Severus continued to sneer as he said, "Potter, and how would it be stealing a girl from my betters? It isn't like you and Lily are here on a date."

If Madame Rosmerta hadn't been there, Severus was sure that Potter would have jinxed him then and there; as she was, Potter whispered, "You'd better watch it Snivellus...", then returned with Black to his table, the two of them still glowering at Severus. Smiling at the twenty-something Romerta, Severus ordered a cream pie and two butterbeers, figuring that there were so many ways to make use of the pie in a prank that Potter would simply be unable to resist.

Returning to the table with his order, Severus gave Lily one of the butterbeers and started sipping at his own, making sure that he turned his back to potter and putting his face in line with the pie as he did so; he wanted to be as perfect a target as possible for his little trap. Meanwhile, Lily started talking, "Sev, I was thinking, maybe we should try to get you some more friends from outside of Slytherin; at the least, it would get you more allies that Potter would care about making angry than just me. Imagine what would happen if you had several friends inside of Gryffindor house for example, whenever Potter would hex you, he would only get his own housemates angry at him, and these are people he always tries to be nice to."

Severus considered the idea; he certainly wouldn't mind having more friends, as Mulciber and Avery seemed to spend a lot of their time with him trying to learn more Dark Magic from him, and he would definitely enjoy having allies from within Potter's own house, but the question was how would he manage to get these 'friends', especially from within Gryffindor. Although not informed of much of the gossip of Hogwarts, Severus knew for a fact that the majority of students considered him creepy and evil, similar to how Lily thought of Mulciber and Avery. As such, he replied questioningly, but also trying to indicate his cautious interest "And how would I get said friends Lily? Its not as if I am as popular as POTTER, capable of getting new friends by waving my hands in the air for a few seconds."

Lily grinned back at him and said with a giggle, "You know Sev, after last night, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few Gryffindors who would be interested in being your friend. Some of them were awfully appreciative of how you saved Mary last night..."

Severus glared at her and growled, "Don't go talking about it here where anyone can hear you! Silly Griffin-DOR!"

-SPLAT-

Apparently, Potter had finally taken the bait and used a jinx to send Severus' face slamming right into the cream pie. Severus tried to master his humiliation as laughter rang out throughout the inn, seeing Potter standing on a nearby table, standing proudly, seeming to indicate that he expected an award for his behavior; even Madam Rosmerta was unable to stifle a laugh as the majority of the Gryffindors clapped their hands or cheered for the arrogant toerag. Severus then looked at Lily and asked, just audible over the continuing laughter, "And just how is Potter better than Mulciber or Avery again?"

Even through his humiliation, Severus knew that he would be willing to go through it all over again just to see the look of horror dawning on Lily's face as she looked from him to Potter and back again. 'Potter, you have not only lost this battle, but I will make sure that you WILL lose the war as well...'

* * *

As Lily returned to the Gryffindor girl's dormitory, she felt mortified at the idea that, apparently, she had used to watch her best friend get tormented by Potter, only to defend Potter for his actions and flirt with him when she had meant to chastise him. With the perspective of an adult, watching her best friend get humiliated in Potter's attempts to show off to her wasn't even slightly pleasing to her, but rather horrifying. 'No wonder he didn't want to go to my wedding; it would have been utterly humiliating to watch the man he loathed above all others get married to his former best friend after he tortured him in order to flirt with me...'

Lily was so busy being horrified at herself that she didn't even notice the presence of Mary in the dormitories until she spoke, "Lily, you said that you were trying to get Severus Snape some friends from within Gryffindor, right? Well, I think I might be willing to try it out, as long as you two help me with potions this year; I'm woefully behind, and could really use the assistance if I am to pass the class."

Lily looked back at her friend, tears in her eyes, and could only whisper, "I think that that would be OK..."

**Author's Notes: **I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hoped that you liked reading the little cliffie.

I would like to especially thank duj and Alex for pointing out missing points in my previous chapters, I have edited them to reflect the correct versions. I would like to point out to Alex that it isn't too surprising that Lily at the start of this fic would be prejudiced against Snape and Slytherin as a whole. After all, her last memories of Snape in her previous life were those of him being a Death Eater and choosing the side of evil over that of good and his best friend. Not only that, but her best friends after giving up on Snape in her previous life were in all likelihood the Marauders.


	6. Plots and Potions

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 6**

**Plots and Potions**

_Changes accelerating..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Two Weeks Later Saturday November 13th, 1974_**

Lily waited nervously for Severus to show up; first impressions were always very important and, while he had agreed to let Mary join them during one of their sessions, she could tell that he was very suspicious of the girl's motives, and frankly, Lily wasn't too surprised. Although Severus had saved Mary from, in her previous life, an overnight stay in the hospital wing, his methods hadn't been the most...tactful, and they could easily have been considered insulting. 'He is probably more than a little afraid that she plans to betray him to the marauders somehow; he has a tendency to be more than a little paranoid after all, although it is probably warranted.'

Severus was already ten minutes late, so, since they were waiting anyway, Lily sighed and said to Mary, "We might as well get started; he might be a bit. This happens sometimes... Now then, you said that you were having trouble with Blood-Replenishing potions?"

Mary nodded and, after they talked about it for a few minutes, Mary started brewing some in her cauldron so that she could demonstrate her technique and Lily could point out what went wrong. Another ten minutes passed, and Lily was starting to get worried, when Severus opened the door, curses spilling out of his mouth. Lily and Mary raised their eyebrows but said nothing as he started to set up so that he could start brewing, wincing slightly every time he touched something, muttering curses all the while.

Finally, Severus looked over at the two of them and asked, "So, what potion are we working on today?" He glanced at Mary's cauldron. "Blood-Replenishing potion?"

Lily immediately responded, "Nah, Mary just needs some help with that so that she can catch up. I was thinking of making some Firespark potion myself. What do you think?"

As Severus nodded and turned back to his cauldron, Lily nudged Mary, who seemed to be intimidated by the sheer quantity and profanity of Severus' vocabulary; she glanced back at Lily, who was motioning towards Severus, and, sighing, went over and said, while tapping him on the shoulder, "Hi, I just wanted to say..."

Severus whirled around and jumped back, roaring angrily, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

As Mary and Lily glared back at him in shocked anger, Severus, in a lower tone of voice, continued, "Potter got me with some stupid jinx that makes me really sensitive, and not in the way of feelings. Somehow, it makes it so that even the slightest new contact causes the feeling of intense pain. I went to the hospital wing, but apparently its a special jinx that Pomfrey didn't recognize; she gave me a potion, but it probably won't go away for at least an hour."

Lily nodded in understanding, while Mary mumbled an apology to Severus, which he took with reasonable grace, although he still appeared a bit suspicious of her. 'Argh! James...what will it take to get you to stop?' She was reminded that, while she had come up with a plan that seemed to be working with Severus, she still hadn't really come up with anything that had any lasting effect on James. 'Ugh, I still don't know what got him to mature the last time! If I knew that, then I could replicate it...'

Meanwhile, Mary had gotten back to her potion and Severus got back to his own, with Lily doing the same. The thing about Firespark potion was that it was very easy to make it do what it was intended to do; the problem with that was, what it was intended to do was explode, which was NOT something you wanted to have happen while it was still in its cauldron. Knowing that, it was rather unusual to see Severus glance over at Mary's cauldron and say sarcastically, "Macdonald, as much as it would interest me if you kept your potion the way it was and gave it to Potter, you should probably add some ginger-root before you make it so that the replenished blood given by your potion would be thicker than molasses."

Mary raised her eyebrows at Severus' words, but did as he told her to, causing her potion's color to change from maroon to a nice bright red. Lily chuckled a little at Severus' attempt to be friendly. 'I guess that some things take time to learn...' For the rest of the study session, Lily and Severus brewed their Firespark potion easily enough, as befitted a student of Severus' caliber and a trained Auror of Lily's, and Lily smiled each and every time that Severus offered some advice, cloaked in sarcasm, to Mary about her potion. By the end of the session, Lily's and Severus' potions were as perfect as could be expected, while Mary's, while not brilliant by any means, would have easily earned her an 'E' in Slughorn's class.

As the two girls returned to Gryffindor tower, Mary frowned and said, "I don't know if I can say that Severus and I would be very good friends. He seemed awfully sarcastic and didn't seem to like me very much, although he was very helpful."

Lily merely shrugged and said, faking neutrality because she knew that Mary liked to think things through on her own, "I am sure that you are overreacting, and I think that the two of you might end up being good friends." She then sighed, "I am glad that's over though; that Firespark potion that Sev and I were making is VERY volatile. If you aren't extremely careful or don't pay close attention, it can easily explode..."

Mary didn't say anything, but, looking at her out of the corner of her eye, Lily could see a faint smile bloom as she put her finger to her lips...

* * *

**_Six Days Later Friday November 19th, 1974_**

Severus laughed as Arcturus told him a joke about how, every time that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher spoke, it sounded like he was saying "Help!", because of a certain squeak in his voice. Meanwhile, Justin seemed to be watching him closely with a pensive expression on his face. Finally, sighing dramatically, as was his wont, Justin said, "Severus, Severus, Severus, I have been hearing some disturbing rumors about you. It appears that ever since the incident with that Mudblood Macdonald, you have been sighted multiple times in her company; are you giving up on Evans? Because, if you are, I would be happy to try her out for myself. She may have a problematic parentage, but she certainly isn't hard on the eyes, and I have heard certain 'rumors' about natural red-heads that I would be dying to try to see whether or not they were accurate..."

Severus glared at Justin, then replied smoothly, shading the truth of course, "Justin, I have not given up on Lily in any way, shape, or form; I am merely attempting to obtain certain benefits in my ongoing war against the toerags."

Arcturus grinned and butted in, smirking slightly, "Ah, so you think that you might be able to convince Macdonald to turn traitor against Potter and his gang? I mean, so far you haven't had much luck with persuading Evans, but I know for a fact that Macdonald truly, deeply hates Sirius Black and isn't pretending when she says 'If someone pushed you off of the Astronomy tower, I would thank them for ridding the world of your stupidity'."

Severus merely smirked outwardly, but inside, he was thinking furiously. 'I didn't know that Macdonald hated Black; maybe there might be some value to listening to those silly rumors after all. I was never able to convince Lily to help me prank Potter and his gang in any real way because she was always such a goody-goody about pranks, but maybe I could get Mary to help me. If she truly hates Black, then this could help me in multiple ways; I could get a new friend and ally, I could silence most of the complaints about me having Muggleborn friends in my house, and I could humiliate the toerags!'

His smirk widened to a full-fledged grin as he considered the possibilities. 'First of all, I am definitely going to have to confirm those rumors. It wouldn't do if Mary was really like Lily in certain regards. I know for a fact that, even though Lily thinks that Potter is an arrogant toerag, she is very much physically attracted to him. Still, crushes fade and physical attraction won't last forever. I just need to hold off Potter until she no longer cares about him very much, then I will have my chance to win her forever; I hope so at least...'

Severus spent his entire Charms class considering ways that he might make use of Mary's possible hatred while picturing his ideal future, with him and Lily talking and laughing while sitting at the kitchen table as a couple of children with her eyes and his dark hair, although with less grease -he cursed the fact that he seemed to have inherited that particular trait from his Prince bloodline-, ran around them playing and giggling...

* * *

"Sod off Black!" Mary attempted to ignore the antics of Potter's best friend as she worked on her Transfiguration homework. Unfortunately, Black didn't seem to take the verbal hint and kept badgering her about his position as chaser on Potter's team. Mary briefly considered making him sing soprano, but decided against it. Unfortunately for her, Black seemed to think that he had the same sort of love-hate relationship with her as Potter did with Lily, and took his cues from James' pursuit of 'his girl'.

The problem with Black's idea was that, quite simply, he had none of the traits that Mary looked for in the men that she dated. She liked careful consideration of plots and schemes, both in literature and in real life, and enjoyed debating those with people who could understand them. Black had all the subtlety of a giant banging at the door with his club, enjoyed more physical pursuits, and was, quite frankly, BORING for her. She would have dated him once, just so that afterward he would leave her alone once and for all, but she did not want to test the possibility of death by boredom.

"But Mary, think about it, I heard that you haven't gone out on a date since last term, and your prospects have really dried up. I mean, the only boys who you are ever seen in contact with these days are me and Snivellus, and there is no way that you could be interested in him, so why don't you try dating me once. The Padfoot is considered to be quite in style by the ladies after all..." He gave her a rogueish wink that only made her want to roll her eyes in boredom.

Mary replied scathingly, "The reason that no boys are seen in contact with me is that you always chase them off! Of course I won't get many dates that way! I don't know what goes through the TINY minds of you and James, but the way to a woman's heart is NOT through chasing away anyone she might be interested in! And for the record, if there is anyone that I am interested in, it certainly wouldn't be you; I would rather go out with the Giant Squid! And like Lily, I really mean it!"

Black only grinned back at her and said confidently, "Your mouth says no, but I know that you are attracted to dashing rogues like me, and even if you weren't, its not like you would go out with Snivellus would you?" He then laughed, finding the idea of her being attracted to Severus to be quite funny.

Mary waited for him to stop laughing, then said, "For your information, I find Severus to be quite intriguing and knowledgeable, and I am not attracted in the slightest to arrogant players like yourself. I probably would go out with Severus long before I went out with you on a date."

Black looked at her for a moment, then burst out laughing again; Mary went back to her homework for a moment, but then Black said, "Wait a minute, you are SERIOUS? You would rather go out with SNIVELLUS than me!? What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Mary, hoping that this conversation was at an end, then said, "Also, I seriously doubt that any woman would be remotely interested in a man who says 'What the hell is wrong with you!?' when she mentions that she might be attracted to someone else."

Black just stared at her dumbstruck, before FINALLY leaving her alone. Thanking God, she got back to her Transfiguration homework without even a second thought.

* * *

James Potter sighed; over the last several weeks, his plans to woo Lily hadn't been going so well. It all started when she had insulted him in the common room, then went back up to the girl's dormitories because of something that he had done to Snivelly; over the next couple of weeks, she had started a new pattern, which was becoming quite annoying. Whenever he would hex Snape, she would proceed to insult him in front of whoever was nearby the next time that she found him, one time even in class, causing the loss of 20 house points, and these weren't funny ones, they were humiliating ones, and then she would proceed to act as if he did not exist for the next couple of days. If for some reason she had to talk to him, she would make it as quick as possible, with distaste in her every syllable.

'God this is getting annoying! OK James, you need to think up a new plan. Luckily, whenever she isn't in one of her phases, she seems more receptive to my flirting than ever before; still, how am I supposed to woo her when she won't react if she is in one of those stupid phases!?' He thought for a few minutes, then grinned to himself. 'I know! She keeps getting annoyed when I target Snivelly right? Well, I'll stop messing Snivelly until I make her my girlfriend, get rid of the slime-ball, then we can get back to the way things used to be! Plus, girls love dances and balls right? If I tell dad, he can probably get Dumbledore to host a ball or something, then I can take her there, and then...'

James smiled at the thought of him, Lily, and maybe a few hours in his bed with a silencing charm. 'The best part is that, although for some reason Snivelly is her friend, he is such a coward that he probably won't ask her to the dance, but would rather wait for her to ask him so that they could go as friends or something! All I would need to do is ask her before she has no choice but to ask the slimy git! The best part is that, if I recall correctly, the big game against Slytherin is in a week or so, so if I ask dad to have the dance afterward, she might say yes just because I helped our house so much!'

Now that he had that planned out, he remembered that Ravenclaw fourth-year Barty Crouch Jr. had been put into the hospital by a case of dragonpox and, although he didn't much care for the boy in question as, even though he wasn't a Slytherin, he had some of their tendencies, he still didn't like the idea of a non-Slytherin suffering. As such, he decided to brew a potion to help Madame Pomfrey combat the illness; although it wasn't deadly, James knew that both Crouch and Pomfrey would appreciate the help. Plus, Lily would like how he was stepping up for the other students, UNLIKE Snape.

He went off to brew the potion, thoughts of impressing Lily and how she might reward him still dancing in his head...

**Author's Note: **Ah, the plot (and plots) thickens. I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter as much as the previous ones, however I MIGHT not have as much time to write soon, because my first class is in just under two hours, although I will try to keep the updates frequent.

I just wanted to thank matrice for his hilarious review, although I would like to point out that Lily was counting on the fact that the Marauders had matured and had stopped hexing Snape in sixth and seventh years (right...), so she had hoped that maybe they could get along then. Obviously, she was MILDLY mistaken.


	7. Avatar of Vengeance

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 7**

**Avatar of Vengeance**

_An all-consuming need..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_One Week Later Monday November 26th, 1974_**

As Severus Snape spit out soap bubbles to the tune of the laughter of the majority of Hogwarts, he couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going on. It was the second time this week that this was happening, and it was starting to confuse him; he could tell, based on all of his time in Slytherin, when a plot was afoot, but he couldn't figure out exactly what Potter was aiming for. 'OK, unless Lupin has infected him and being a werewolf makes you a pathetic coward unable to stand up to your friends, Potter is up to something, but WHAT is it!?'

For some reason, the past two times that the Marauders had hexed him, Potter had been telling Sirius stuff like "Lay off him Padfoot", "He's Lily's friend, so you don't need to hurt him", and "If you want to Hex...Severus, you are on your own"; what made this particularly strange was that he would then wink and Severus as if they were best friends before sighing and going over where Lupin was sitting, but instead of burying his nose in a book like his sometimes-lupine friend, he would watch avidly and with a smirk on his face as Severus would get tormented...again.

Although Severus was probably an even match for Pettigrew and Black on his own as, even though it was a two-on-one, he had an expertise at both defending against Dark Magic and using it that was far beyond his years, the problem was that they would always ambush him or in some way catch him off guard. Finally, Black seemed to be getting towards the end of it when suddenly a feminine voice called out _"Impedimenta!" _and Black went crashing to the ground, causing his _levicorpus_ spell to wear off instantly. Taking advantage of his opportunity, Severus quickly crawled over to his wand, grabbed it, but Pettigrew shouted _"Expelliarmus!"_

Severus, having more skill than Pettigrew would probably ever hope to have, deflected the spell and replied in one swift motion, _"Depulso!" _The Jinx sent the little git flying back into the lake, causing Severus to smirk before he turned to look at his rescuer. Even though he was furious that he had had to be rescued and wanted to make Black die a thousand deaths, he was far more concerned when Potter and Lupin rushed over to Lily and himself because he had a sneaking suspicion that, as usual, Potter was up to something.

Meanwhile, Lily was telling off Black loudly as she kept her wand pointed at him, "...Clear, I AM FED UP with you BULLYING my BEST FRIEND! Henceforth, if I see you trying to hex him, I will respond in kind! At the very least, you could act like James has and leave him alone!"

Potter, who had just made it there, said, "Hey Lily! I know that what he did...wasn't the best thing to do, but did you have to hex him!? I mean, for all you know, Severus might have started the fight and you just hexed the victim! I mean, sure, Sni-Severus may not be my favorite person, but how could you go against Sirius, a fellow Gryffindor without knowing all of the facts!?"

Lily seemed to think that over for a moment, giving Potter a clearly suspicious look, then said, sarcastically, "So Sev, did you happen to be trying to hex Sirius and start the fight?"

Severus managed to keep from chuckling and played along, "Why, I don't believe that I did, unless the fact that I exist started the fight, it was all Sirius and his rather-wimpy hexes."

For some reason, Lily seemed to be hurt by something he had said, but she then started laughing and said, "Now James really, if Severus had started the fight, I have no doubt that you would have been all over him long before I arrived. Although you have supposedly changed, that wouldn't have precluded you from trying to protect your friends. Speaking of which, have you even wondered how Peter is doing considering he was blasted into a lake?"

Potter, who seemed to have forgotten about Pettigrew, whirled around, only to see that Lupin had left some time ago and was currently casting what appeared to be a warming charm on the mini-toerag. Turning back, he scowled and said, "Hey! I have changed! I haven't hexed Sni-Severus at all this week and have even told off my friends when they tried to do it themselves."

To this, Lily replied cooly, "You can barely even keep yourself from using that childish insult, and while you no longer hex him yourself, you haven't even really tried stopping Peter or Sirius. Moreover, I saw you laughing and smirking as they were hexing Severus!"

Severus just watched as Potter did his best to incriminate myself, enjoying it more than anything short of his 'study sessions' with Lily and Mary. Meanwhile, Potter replied confidently, if untruthfully, "Hey! I was laughing at a joke that Moony made! It had nothing to do with Snivellus at all!"

Lily sighed, exasperatedly, "Stop lying James, I know that you haven't changed in any real way and you just did this in an attempt to woo me..." Her voice then went softer as Severus froze, not liking that turn of events, "...Still, I am glad that you have stopped hexing Severus, even if it wasn't with his good in mind."

As James beamed, Severus felt nauseated. 'I think that I'm gonna be sick...'

* * *

Lily smiled slightly; even though she knew that James hadn't really changed yet, she was still happy that he had stopped hexing Severus for her sake. Additionally, just like last time, she had found that when they talked and he wasn't just trying to ask her out, they actually had quite a bit in common. They both enjoyed Quidditch, even though she never liked to play all that much, they both liked joking around, and he made everything funnier when he was around, even if he still tended to get on her nerves.

She then thought wistfully, sighing, 'Its too bad that he never really got to understanding me quite like Sev did; even though he always tried his best, he never quite got me as well as Sev used to. Still, he always did try his hardest to please me, even going so far as to stop bullying the person he hated most in the world just because he and I used to be friends. I do hope that he does the same thing this time around. I mean, I lost Severus one lifetime, I am NOT spending another without my best friend...'

Unfortunately, it seemed at this point that neither of them was showing any signs of giving up their rivalry, not that she could blame Severus. Now that she had really looked hard at how James treated him, she was disgusted with herself that she had ever found it remotely funny when she had watched the Marauders at work. 'Apparently, James is the only one of us who ever learned his lesson; Severus ended up joining Voldemort and I left my best friend behind after he said one word to me, when I forgave James and the Marauders after they spent years tormenting my best friend...'

Meanwhile, Mary was sitting in one of the armchairs looking strangely over at Sirius Black and Sabrina Percival, a Gryffindor fourth-year who was a very pale pureblooded girl with ghostly silver-white hair, as they snogged on one of the nearby armchairs; she seemed to have a look on her face that Lily just couldn't quite figure out. Deciding to tease her a bit so that she could get her mind off of the depressing topic it had been on, Lily then put on a grin and asked, giggling a little, "So Mary, regretting how you blew off Sirius now that there is a dance coming up? Or is it more that he is snogging someone else?"

Mary, without turning, replied cooly, "Not remotely; I am just worried for my friend is all. Sabrina has had a giant crush on Black ever since he came to the school; Sirius just stopped trying to woo me a week ago, and later that same evening, he has Sabrina in his arms and starts snogging her almost as soon as I came through the doorway. If he really cares about her, more power to him, but if he is just using her as the rebound girl or to try to make me jealous..."

Then James came over and said, "Hey Lily, Macdonald. How is it going for two of the most beautiful ladies in Gryffindor?"

Lily laughed as Mary rolled her eyes, clearly not in any mood for flattery, then replied, "Pretty well; are you feeling confident about the Game Saturday against Slytherin?"

James then said smoothly, "Of course my dear Lily; there is no way on earth that those slimy serpants will ever defeat my brave and valiant lions!"

Mary then said, voice filled with what sounded like a careful curiosity, "Speaking of your 'brave and valiant lions' Potter, what is Black doing with Sabrina over there?"

James glanced over, then grinned widely before saying, "Ooh! I knew that you really liked him! Don't worry though, he is still willing to go to the ball with you if you want him to..." He glanced around quickly before whispering so softly that Lily could barely hear him, "...After all, he's just dating her to make you jealous. If you are finally ready to admit your attraction to him, I am sure that he would be thrilled to take you as his date and girlfriend. Besides, the longer you wait, the more it will probably hurt Percival..." At that, Lily could hear a small note of guild in his voice, but it was very faint.

In response to that, Mary didn't say anything; she just looked back over at the couple entwined on the armchair once more before walking slowly up the stairs to the girl's dormitories. Lily followed her, making up an excuse, furious at Sirius for doing such a thing and at James for condoning it...

* * *

James grinned as Lily went upstairs, pleading History of Magic homework, then turned to Sirius who, after his snog session with Sabrina was finished, had taken to sitting down and transfiguring little figurines of Snivellus out of his chocolate before biting their heads off and eating them. Checking to make sure the common room was deserted, James then said, "So Padfoot, how do you think your plan is going? I mean, I was worried a little bit today with my plan, but it appears that Lily is coming around, although it seems it will take a while before she realizes what a slimy git Snivellus is and gives up on him."

Sirius slowly smiled and said, "Hmm, I dunno Prongs, I thought that after you told her I was dating Percival just to make her jealous and how much it might hurt her if she doesn't get me to break up with her, she would have come over and confronted me about it immediately, but she only glared at me and went back upstairs. Still, I don't think it will take much more before she finally cracks and admits to her endless attraction to me." He said the last bit with a hint of arrogance

"Heaven knows why Padfoot; I mean, you are such a DOG!" The two boys burst into laughter at their private little joke, then Sirius said, grinning,

"I think I know how to do the capstone to the plan too! You see, Percival told me that she wanted to try making out with me later tonight in this one abandoned classroom, and I was thinking that, if I were to sleep with her friend before her, it would make Mary UNBELIEVABLY jealous! So all I gotta do is this-and-that, and, pretty soon, Percival will spread her legs wide for everyone's favorite dog!"

James then said nervously, "I dunno Padfoot; I mean, she is a virgin and all, it might take a bit more than this-and-that to get her into the sack. Still, make sure that she enjoys her first time; I heard that girls tend to have problems with that. I mean, she has had this crush on you for ages, the least you can do is make sure she has a good time..."

Sirus frowned, then said calmly, "Don't worry James; I will make sure that she enjoys it, don't worry. I can't help but feel a little guilty about this though; I mean, she has had a crush on me for a ever so long, but maybe its for the best, she really needs to get over me and find someone who is actually interested in her."

James then sighed, "I know what you mean; I wish that Snivellus would just bugger off and leave me and Lily alone. It's going to be so hard keeping myself from hexing the pretentious little wanker."

Sirius then said, grinning, "Do not worry Champion of Gryffindor! I will make sure that I, Sirius Black, hex him twice as much in your name so that you do not feel left out!"

"I always knew I could count on you...Now if only you would stop shedding on the floor in our dorms!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and, conversation finished, James then went swiftly up to bed. Still, he couldn't help but feel really guilty about how Sirius was planning to use Sabrina's crush on him; he did rather like the girl. Still, if it was a choice between anyone and Sirius, he would have to choose Sirius in the end...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Wednesday November 28th, 1974_**

Severus smiled slightly as he walked down the corridor, reading his copy of Advanced Potion Making; although it was a couple years early to be reading it, he had far surpassed the potions found in the lower-level textbooks and had found himself easily capable of composing 'O' level essays without even having the lower level coursebook. Besides, even if he had to read it for some reason, he could always borrow Lily's copy.

He had a slight spring in his step because of what he had been hearing over the past couple of nights; finding it to have some value after all, Severus had started listening to gossip when it mentioned one of his friends or the Marauders and, apparently, it seemed that Lily and James had had a row last night about something, although Lily hadn't seen him yet so he was unsure exactly what it was. He heard that it had something to do with Mary Macdonald and, at that thought, Severus slowed down and frowned. While he had always been sure that, as long as it wasn't Lily, he didn't care whose life James blighted with his presence, he had started to grow rather fond of the Gryffindor girl.

He had taken to helping her with Potions while she helped him with Transfiguration and Lily helped the both of them with Charms; although he found her to be a tad detached and shut-in, he found it rather easy to get along with her, and he could tell that they had already become rather good friends. He had even had one study session with her alone and without Lily, although he had to admit that it it was a bit strange how she seemed to become nervous in his presence sometimes, it had gone quite well.

Suddenly, Severus frowned; even though he was a good twenty minutes early, he could tell that he wasn't the first to arrive based on the fact that he could hear shouting and shattering glass inside of the classroom that he, Lily and Mary usually used. Rushing inside, wand drawn, he found Mary there screaming and blasting a row of empty potion vials before casting _reparo _and blasting them again. Seeing that she seemed to be having a breakdown of some sort, Severus immediately called out, _"Incarcerous!"_

She looked at him, fury in her eyes as he saw her crying. Running over to his friend, he said quietly, a small note of compassion in his voice "I'm sorry Mary, but what are you doing this for?"

Mary glared at him furiously before shouting,"What am I doing this for!? WHAT AM I DOING THIS FOR!? I finally got my friend Sabrina to talk to me this morning about why she had been looking so happy the past two days, and she told me that she had managed to sleep with the man she loved, Sirius Black!"

Severus, confusedly asked, "Um, as much as I think that the man deserves to go to Azkaban, I can't particularly see why would you would be angry about your friend getting to sleep with the 'man she loved'." He said the last bit with an extra-large dose of sarcasm. He then undid his spell with a muttered _"Finite Incantatum."_

Mary then grabbed him by the collar of his robes and forced his face right in front of her own; this close, he could see that, although she was crying, those were tears of sheer, absolute loathing. She then said, biting off every word like it pained her to say them, "The reason that I am angry, is that she is one of my best friends, and he slept with her solely to get me jealous so I can go to this forsaken ball with him! Severus... I want him to SUFFER; he took her virginity just because he thought it would help him win me over..."

She then seemed to master herself, although her brown eyes burned with a black flame that seemed almost visible to him, before continuing, her voice colder than any he had ever heard before, "I know that you hate the Marauders and you love it whenever they stumble in any way; well I am telling you that I will do ANYTHING to help you if it makes Black's life a living hell!"

Although he normally would have been happy to make the Marauders suffer for any reason, Severus' normal reasons for wanting to tormen them left his mind. What Sirius had done to that girl didn't deserve to happen to ANYONE, not even a Gryffindor; for the first time in over two years, Severus found himself hating someone even more than he loathed James Potter. He said coldly, "Don't worry, I WILL find a way... Sirius Black will pay!"

Everyone had always said that Mary Macdonald had an extremely pretty face, but the smile she had on it was one that Severus never wanted to be the cause of, for it clearly showed that she had become vengeance incarnate...

**Author's Note: **It is because of his jealousy of Severus that Sirius has taken his attempt to win Mary so far. It has taken his normal recklessness to a very dark place indeed...

As for the possibility of a temporary Mary/Severus pairing, I will not say anything about that at this time.


	8. Plans in Motion

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 8**

**Plans in Motion**

_Some things are more important that houses..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_One Day Later Thursday November 29th, 1974_**

Severus schooled his features as he went into the Slytherin common room after his class let out for the day; the plan would have to be offered up just so if he wanted to achieve all of his ends. 'It is a good thing that Mary doesn't particularly care who she has to deal with so long as Black and the rest of the toerags suffer, or this would have been extremely difficult to pull off.'

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he whispered to Justin and Arcturus, who had been playing a game of Exploding Snap in the corner of their common room, "Meet me in the DADA classroom we used last year in thirty minutes; I have something to discuss that you will enjoy immensely indeed. This is official Knights business.."

Their eyes gleamed as they nodded, meanwhile, Severus went about getting his props and the map he had sketched out of the school together. 'OK, I will have to present this perfectly and, if it is successful, it should help me a lot with all of my problems...' Making his way to the fourth floor, he waited for his friends to arrive.

Right on schedule, Arcturus and Justin walked into the room, laughing about something that had happened in Charms class, during which Severus had been too busy fine-tuning his plan to notice. They each grabbed a chair and sat down in front of him, waiting for him to begin, which he did by smoothly saying, "I am sure that the both of you are aware of how I have been...cultivating Macdonald as a possible ally against the Marauders, correct?" As the two nodded their heads, Severus continued, "Well, I have managed to bargain for her assistance in a plan that I have whipped up to humiliate those so-called Marauders, the blood-traitors Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. Not only that, but this plan will cost those silly Gryffindors hundreds of house points, paving the way for a Slytherin victory this year."

Arcturus grinned at this, but Justin frowned slightly before saying, "That sounds very nice Severus, but although you are somewhat of a prodigy, you have always avoided getting involved in the planning or execution of 'official Knights business. Why should we commit ourselves to your plan before hearing about it first?

Severus allowed himself a small smile, as he had been working this out for hours and had carefully accounted for any reasonable possibility. After he finished explaining the plan, noticing the identical malicious grins on each of his friends' faces, he then told them, "...In return for this, Mary Macdonald requires an immunity for until graduation to all insults, pranks, etc. for herself and Lily Evans from us Knights of Walpurgis as well as, of course, a part in the actual execution. In my opinion, it is a small price to pay for the utter humiliation of the Marauders and the humbling of Gryffindor house."

Severus then waited, feigning calmness as his friends deliberated. Finally, Justin said, "Well, I can't speak for the rest of the Knights, but we will certainly accept her terms. Personally, I can hardly wait until Saturday! This will be the prank to end all pranks! Even those blasted Marauders will never top this! The best part, is that only the Gryffindors will lose points for OUR prank!"

Severus smiled as the two of them cheered; in all actuality, Mary had only wanted to be a part in the actual execution of the plan, but Severus knew that, for the kind of humiliation that this plan would provide, his friends would pay any price. 'Now I have protected Lily and Mary for the remainder of our time at school... I'll bet Lily will be pleased!'

* * *

**_The Next Day Friday November 29th, 1974_**

-ACHOO- -ACHOO-

Mary who had been sneezing all morning, said quietly to Lily, "Don't -ACHOO- worry Lily. I'll head down to the hospital wing as soon as you guys get going. I just don't want to infect the lot of you with my own illness."

-ACHOO-

Lily, who had made sure that she was out of the blast area of her sneezes, said comfortingly, "If you're sure... I guess I will get going... Maybe Pomfrey will get you better in time for Potions today. I heard that we were going to be working on antidotes to Draughts of Misery, and I wouldn't want you to miss that!"

Mary, nodding, waved as Lily left for Charms class, then stayed in bed for a good half-hour, waiting until she was sure that all of the Gryffindors had left for their classes. Finally, she got out of bed and walked down, before looking around the deserted and calling out that she was starkers. As there was no response, she quickly quaffed the bitter potion she had been provided by Severus the night before, which instantly cleared up her sneezing. Immediately, she ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitories and started ransacking Potter's side of the room searching desperately for the Invisibility Cloak that he always kept in his room when not in use. Finally, she found it hidden in his trunk and pulled it out.

Staring at the cloak, she realized for the first time exactly what she was doing. If she did this, she would be betraying all of Gryffindor house, and would definitely cost them the house cup, which they had won for the past three years running. Was she willing to do this to all of the Gryffindors who hadn't gotten involved in it? Thinking to herself, she remembered the smile that Black had on his face as he boasted, with her 'conveniently' in earshot, about how he had shagged Sabrina rotten Monday night, but he was getting bored of her and still had feelings for Mary. The worst part was how none of the other boys even minded, and they had asked lewd questions about how she was while Mary was listening.

'No, I don't care what this costs Gryffindor; those monsters have to be stopped at all costs! They took Sabrina's love and pissed all over it! I don't care what it takes, THEY WILL PAY!' With white-hot rage filling her, Mary attached the small, silvery cloth patch to the cloak and watched as it melded with the rest of it.

Without guilt or remorse, Mary then put on a smile and started studying her Charms book; she had missed class, but that was certainly no reason to slack off on her work. As she did so, she smirked at the thought of what would be happening Saturday. 'NO-ONE hurts my friends, not even a Gryffindor...!'

* * *

**_The Next Day Saturday November 30th, 1974_**

James Potter grinned as he made yet another spectacular shot, making the score 140-80. Gryffindor roared as its Champion did a pose in midair, while laughing at the Slytherins. Unfortunately, and to his embarrassment, one of the Slytherin Chasers took advantage of his distraction to slip past him and, when he went for the foul, the Slytherin made the shot anyway, getting a second shot in because of the penalty shot. The score was then 140-100, and the green end of the field was cheering madly as the rest of the field groaned and James went red with humiliation.

Nonetheless, the Slytherin team was simply outmatched, and, when the Gryffindor seeker finally caught the snitch, the final score was 350-130. Realizing that now would make a great time to ask Lily to the ball, which had been finally planned for next Sunday, James quickly showered, when he heard Sirius sighing dejectedly. Concerned for his friend, James went over and said, "Hey Padfoot, what's eating you?"

Kicking the nearby locker moodily, Sirius replied sadly, "Its this whole Mary business; I mean, I know that she is really stubborn and all, but if she keeps waiting, then I am going to practically have to make Sabrina the Gryffindor whore in order to save face. I know that she doesn't like to admit her true feelings, but she is making her friend have to suffer in order to do it, and that's just wrong!"

James, sighing, said, "I know, she's so uptight, and she really doesn't deserve you, but I think that you might just have to give up on the game for now Padfoot. I mean, Sabrina deserves to be able to find someone for the ball before its too late, it just wouldn't be right to embarrass her like that. Besides, you know what I heard?"

Sirius, looking around a moment for eavesdroppers, said, "No, what?"

James, lowering his voice, then said, "Well, Alexandra told me that she heard that Mary was wondering if Snivellus would prefer a girl to wear a standard ballroom gown, or something a tad more risque. You know what that means..."

Sirius growled and said, "Yeah, she realized my plan and is trying to one-up me. I mean, NO-ONE would REALLY want him as a date, so that means that I should probably dump Sabrina now and go in for the kill! By this time tomorrow, I will be Mary Macdonald's date to the ball or so help me God!"

James grinned and said, "Good idea Padfoot, but make sure that you do it gently; I mean, no-one really deserves to suffer like that, except maybe Snivellus. Wait a minute! Tell Mary to pretend to be interested in the slimy git until the night of the ball, then dump him like a bunch of bubotubers on the ground!"

Sirius grinned, "James, I think that tonight will be a night to remember...

Privately, James thought to himself. 'Maybe I can help Sabrina protect her reputation from this, and make it sound like Sirius really loved her, but loved Mary more; I mean, no girl deserves to get herself completely ruined, even if using her was necessary. Besides, Sabrina should be glad that she got to have Sirius, even if its temporary, after all, I heard that the girls think that he is one of the best in our year in the sack...'

* * *

Lily smiled and laughed as she and the rest of Gryffindor house partied. Even though it was after curfew, none of the partiers wanted to stop at all. She was proud of James for winning, but she had to sigh at how arrogant he still was. 'Still, that's the kind of thing that went away with age. However, maybe he deserves a reward for how he has been acting; I mean, he's still the same way he was before and all, but, regardless of reason, he did stop what he was doing, and if I reward him, it should help him realize that doing the right thing in this is worth doing. It's basic carrot and stick philosophy after all.'

As she danced a little, Lily watched Mary, who had been staring at Sabrina and Sirius in utter fury; she didn't know what Sirius was up to with Sabrina because neither of the two of them were that close to her, but whatever it was, it had Mary in a state of absolute rage. For some reason though, Mary had been talking to Severus about it rather than her. While she had to admit that it was nice to see the two of them bonding, she had been starting to have this weird feeling inside that she wasn't sure about when Mary talked to him. 'Maybe its just because I am still unused to any of my friends liking Sev; it always used to be that they all hated him, although none of them really got to know him. In all honesty, I never really got to know him...'

Lily smiled as she recalled how she and Severus had started spending more and more time together after that trip to Hogsmeade. She had discovered that it wasn't so much that he wanted to do the Dark Arts because they were evil, but because he didn't truly believe them to be evil, and they were certainly effective. He had explained the theory behind his _sectumsempra _spell and, although Lily couldn't say that she liked it, it would certainly be effective in the upcoming war. To her surprise, the last time around, part of the reason that the Order had been so outmatched was because their nonlethal attacks could frequently be reversed with great ease, while the Death Eaters just killed those they hit most of the time.

Also, the two of them had started spending time reading out by the lake together; even though a lot of her friends said that she was getting too close for her own good and would likely be hurt even more when he went bad, she was afraid that, if she didn't, things would go the same way that they did last time, so she spent as much free time as she could hanging out with her best friend. They had started debating the policies of Dumbledore, the Ministry, and the Death Eaters, trying to help each other understand the other's point of view. This was both enjoyable, and, in the end, helpful, as she was pretty sure that, by doing this, she would be preparing the groundwork for when Voldemort started shifting his policies more and more towards terror and murder.

Suddenly, she found herself dancing by James, who, smiling proudly, said, "So Lily...I was wondering...Would you possibly be in need of a date for the ball the Saturday after next?"

Giggling as she rolled her eyes, Lily said, "Hmm, I dunno, maybe I will be. Let me think it over first though..."

As James smoothly returned to chatting with Remus and Pettigrew, Lily smiled and decided to think about it tomorrow. At the least, it would make James worry that he was still on thin ice, even if she accepted.

As the clock struck midnight, Mary suddenly walked over to Sirius and asked him, "Um, Sirius, would you and your friends mind doing me a favor? I forgot to eat dinner because I was so anxious about the match and I'm starved; would the four of you mind grabbing us all some food?"

Sirius, grinning, ignored the girl who was sitting in his lap as he practically knocked Sabrina off of it in the process of jumping to his feet and saying, "Sure Mary, I'd love to."

As he and his friends dashed around, getting ready for their little food raid, Lily watched as Mary smirked evily before slipping outside the portrait hole, mouthing "bathroom"; Lily smiled slightly and nodded herself. 'I wonder what that was all about?'

**Author's Note: **Everything is getting ready for the big event. I can't tell what Severus has up his sleeves, but it is going to be HUGE...

For those of you who keep wondering why Lily seems to always be forgiving James so fast, its rather simple. At this point, Lily is really just looking for an excuse to get back together with James. After all, in her point of view, its been nearly two months since she and her husband have been together...

**I have edited this chapter as I realized that I was having Sirius go too far OOC, he still isn't very nice though...**


	9. The Ultimate Prank Unleashed

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 9**

**The Ultimate Prank Unleashed**

_To bury Gryffindor house..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Sunday December 2nd, 1974_**

Severus Snape rubbed his eyes as he clutched his robes and mask to himself while he waited for Macdonald to arrive; until she alerted him, he wouldn't dare go out into the corridors now that it was well after curfew. His plan simply wouldn't work unless James and co. had already left Gryffindor tower in his bloody Invisibility cloak. Meanwhile, Arcturus and Justin took a short nap while the three of them hid in one of the stalls of the boy's bathroom; although thanks to their glamors which Severus had cast it would be hard to tell that they were hiding in it unless someone looked inside the stall.

Suddenly, Severus heard the sounds of quiet footsteps hurrying and the voice of his newest friend Mary Macdonald could be heard in the cramped confines of the boy's bathroom closest to Gryffindor asking quietly, "Severus? Are you there?"

Immediately, Snape dropped the glamor and called out quietly, while shaking Justin awake, "We're here, don't worry. They about to leave?"

Suddenly the door to the stall opened and Mary Marconald's face, curled into a malicious smirk, could be seen. She then said, "Yup! I can hardly wait, those blokes won't know what hit them!"

Justin finally managed to wake up and Severus started shaking Arcturus as Justin said "Uh, a Bezoar professor?", causing Mary to burst into a fit of giggles, which were loud to the point that Severus was forced to cover her mouth with one of his hands as Arcturus, who without realizing it, had curled up around the toiled, finally awoke to the sight of the infamous throne right in front of his face, causing Severus to have to put his other hand on his mouth so that he didn't shriek.

Muttering _"Muffliato" _softly, he quickly asked, annoyed, "We don't have too much time, luckily we have the advantage that we know where they are going and how they are getting there. I mean, since they THINK they can't be seen under that blasted cloak of theirs, they won't bother with any real sneaky routes, they will just go the straightest route possible. Now then, everyone, get your masks and monocles on, we have toerag to catch!"

Taking down the _Muffliato_ and opening the doors, Severus took a quick look around, before motioning to his friends to "hurry up you dunderheads.", and guiding them down rapidly. The foursome moved as quickly and silently as they could through the castle, knowing that what they were doing would make them all like complete idiots if Filch was able to catch them, but the reward was much greater than the risk. Soon they came upon a seemingly empty corridor, or at least it would have been if it weren't for the monocles that Severus had equipped them all with. Through the monocles, the Invisibility Cloak gleamed bright red, thanks to the little rider that Mary had managed to attach...

As the four of them carefully drew their wands, he faintly heard the sound of Sirius Black whispering, "Hey, I think that's the greasy git, let's hex him and his death eater buddies. You know, if I didn't know better, I would think that he saw us."

Severus suppressed a snort as he thought to himself, 'Oh, but I do Black, and revenge will most assuredly be sweet...' Nodding to the others as the foursome under the cloak conveniently got themselves in the perfect position to be caught in a crossfire, Severus and his allies began their attack with four near-simultaneous shouts,

_'Petrificus Totalus.'_

_"Petrificus Totalus."_

_"Petrificus Totalus!"_

_"Petrificus Totalus!"_

* * *

Mary Macdonald smirked as the four Marauders crashed to the ground, having each been hit by at least one of the jinxes. Immediately, the Halfblood-Prince -Mary had howled in laughter when she had heard of his title-, the Muggleborn, and the two probable future-Death Eaters began their procedure. The four of them used a _Mobilicorpus _spell to carry them while they stayed hidden under their Invisibility Cloak.

Soon the foursome and their captives made it to the Great Hall and, after forcing the four idiots' mouths open, poured a small amount of Dreamless Sleep potion into each of their mouths. It wouldn't last more than half an hour, but they didn't want anyone to suspect that someone else was responsible for what they were about to do. Immediately, while Mary turned herself away to act as a lookout for filch, not that it would be a problem thanks to the Invisibility Cloak that they had temporarily nabbed, the Slytherin part of their group undid the jinx and stripped the Marauders, before putting clothing that would be more...suitable.

Then, they all 'borrowed' the wands of their sleeping foes and started using them to cast certain charms and transfigurations on the area around them, finally finishing off with a Muffliato spell and by placing a small lit candle on the floor behind the boys' heads, so that, even after the potion wore off, they were unlikely to wake up. After hanging the Invisibility Cloak as planned and placing the _Muffliato _spell around them, the foursome returned the wands to their victims and immediately split up to return to their respective dormitories, knowing that the light source of the candle, however small, would attract Filch or Mrs. Norris while distracting them from them so that they could make their getaway.

Swiftly making her way to Gryffindor tower, Mary arrived in the common room only to find Lily the only one there. Lily looked at her puzzled and asked, "Mary, have you seen James and his crew? They should have been back here half an hour ago, but they never showed up. What took YOU so long...oh!"

Mary, flushing crimson, knew that the game was up, but chose to play it until the end, "What are you talking about Lily?" She asked, pretending to be confused, "I just want to use the loo is all..."

Lily giggled and whispered, "Just so you know Mary, if you need to schedule a little 'you-time', you didn't need to ask Sirius to leave Gryffindor tower so he wouldn't pester you..."

Mary wondered to herself, 'What is she talking about with 'me-time'...OH HELL NO!' Her face turned red as a tomato, but she sucked it up anyway and nodded, figuring that a little embarrassment to herself was a small price to pay for her vengeance...

* * *

Lily was holding James tight against her body, clad in a shoulder-less dress with a low-cut top and no bra visible, her hands roaming all over his as she trailed butterfly kisses up and down his neck, saying, "Don't worry James, I realized the error of my ways and left that pathetic Snivellus over there so that he could watch us in order to make it up to you, a man who is so incredible and brave that words fail me."

James, extremely debonair and suave in his dress robes at the Yule Ball, while Snivellus cried pathetically in the center of the room, being jinxed by random people, begging for aid, kissed Lily on the nose as he said, "I know Lily, and I am sorry that I ever doubted that you were a true Gryffindor. Please, do the honors!"

Laughing prettily, Lily fired a _Levicorpus _spell, hoisting the greasy git into the air, where it was revealed to all that his slime truly covered his whole body, then she said, "I know, but I truly wish that you would allow me to show you just how sorry I truly am. Wait... I know!" Suddenly. she made a collar appear as if by magic and placed it around her neck. The collar read, "Property of James Potter, the most incredible Auror and savior of damsels in distress ever born, Lily Evans Potter!"

Grinning, James said, "Now there is only one thing left for us to do my sweet..."

Batting her eyes and laughing giddily, Lily said, "And what is that my handsome prince?"

James leaned forward and said, "And now we kiss" Their lips drew closer together, when suddenly...

"POTTER! BLACK! PETTIGREW! LUPIN! FINALLY, AFTER FOUR YEARS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS, I HAVE CAPTURED YOU ALL!"

Awakening, James saw Argus Filch, the caretaker, cackling madly less than a foot in front of his face. James screamed, causing his three friends to look at him in consternation, before returning their gazes to rest squarely upon the evil git, who looked as if he had received ten years worth of Christmas presents. Looking around frantically, he discovered that he and his friends were all in Gryffindor Quidditch Uniforms, although ill-fitting in the cases of Lupin and Pettigrew, and were sitting at the head table in the great hall, surrounded by what appeared to be four gigantic statues of themselves, each planting a boot on the naked rear of a famous, pure-blooded Slytherin, who was different for each of the four statues. Last but not least, the Invisibility Cloak had been painted on with the slogan "GRYFFINDORS! THE TRUE KINGS OF THE SCHOOL!" and was perched as a banner no more than ten feet above their heads.

Continuing to cackle in mad glee, Filch said, still laughing as he grabbed the Invisibility Cloak and brought, "Stay here you scum as I go get your Head of House! HA-HA-HA! FINALLY! I might get the chance to break out that old horsewhip again!"

Knowing that their punishment would only be worse in the end if they tried to run, the four could only sit there and wait until Professor Mcgonagall finally showed up, looking extremely disgruntled as she gaped at the scene before them, with Filch cackling behind her. Wanting to explain, James swiftly said, "Hey, don't look at us! We didn't do this! Honest!"

Filch, laughing, said, "Nice try Potter, but you were the ones sitting right at the Head Table, don't try fooling me!?"

Professor Mcgonagall quickly said, "Enough Argus, there is one good way to check whose fault it was to do this. Boys, give me your wands!" She quickly casted _Priori Incantatum_ using each wand, but the images clearly showed the spells that made the scene in the Great Hall.

James said, "Come on Professor, we're innocent!"

Looking one last time at him, she asked, "Was there any evidence of foul play? Did they seem to be under any sort of jinx or potion Argus? Because they certainly aren't under one now."

Filch said, "Nope! They woke up as soon as I started shouting and everything, although Potter screamed when I did it right in front of his face for some reason..."

Potter heard Sirius mutter under his breath, "Imagine that..."

Sighing, Mcgonagall said sadly, "I am sorry boys, but every scrap of evidence points to you four. Besides, even if you were tricked into this, you four were still outside Gryffindor tower WELL after curfew. As such, I am afraid that I will have no choice, one hundred points from Gryffindor and a week's detention for the lot of you, and I will be confiscating your Invisibility Cloak Mr. Potter I am afraid..."

Sirius shouted desperately, "Aw come off it! One-hundred points from Gryffindor!? That's bloody unfair!"

Lupin, sounding stunned in horror, said, "No Padfoot, four-hundred points from Gryffindor, one-hundred EACH..."

The Marauders could only gaze at each other as a veritable sea of rubies were removed from the Gryffindor hourglass, leaving Gryffindor house with barely any points at all...

* * *

Lily woke up slowly, taking advantage of the fact that it was still the weekend to stretch her arms and legs, before she put on her school robes, then Sabrina Percival suddenly ran in, horror on her face, and said, "Lily! Come quick! You have to see to believe this!"

Worried as Sabrina immediately rushed back out of the room, Lily followed her all the way down to the Great Hall, where, at the Gryffindor table, the Marauders were all sitting by themselves at one end of the table, with the rest of Gryffindor as far away from them as possible. Lily was about to point out this oddity to Sabrina, when she suddenly grabbed her head with one hand and pointed up towards their hourglass with the other, crying, "Look Lily! LOOK!"

Lily, seeing the nearly empty hourglass, could only say numbly, "Please tell me that our hourglass is upside down and we GAINED a bunch of points..."

Mary, frowning grimly, walked over to her and said, "Sorry Lily, but Black and his bloody Marauders tried to pull a prank last night, but they were caught. Mcgonagall took away one-hundred points each for the prank. I heard they did some juvenile Gryffindor is better than Slytherin display, but were caught by filch right after finishing."

Lily, dismayed, was about to walk over to ask James what the hell had gone on last night, when he and his mates walked over to her and said, "Lily! We need to talk to you in private...NOW!"

Dumbly nodding, Lily waved away her friends and let James lead her away from the table, before saying, "Lily, I'm sorry, but you HAVE to get rid of Snivellus RIGHT NOW! He just pulled a prank on us, causing Mcgonagall to take away hundreds of points for his own prank! I know you are friends, but he's a Slytherin! JUST GIVE UP!"

Lily raised her eyebrows and asked, witheringly, "And how, pray tell, did he manage to prank you if you were under your stupid Invisibility Cloak James? Even if he were to try ambushing you, it would be completely pointless to try!"

Remus chimed in and said, "We don't know, but he somehow pulled it off. He hit us all with the full-body-bind, then used a Dreamless Sleep potion on each of us if I am not mistaken. While we were asleep, he then set up the whole prank using our wands, you've gotta believe us!"

As the rest of the Marauders chimed in with nods and agreements, Lily considered to herself, then said, "Sorry Remus, but if you were dosed with a Dreamless Sleep potion, even Filch would have been able to tell it, considering you guys wouldn't have been able to wake up. Besides, even if Sev did do this prank, you four WERE out of the dormitories after curfew! So sorry, but I'm not buying! Besides, although it cost Gryffindor a TON of house points, his prank was FAR tamer than the ones that the four of you get up to!"

Even though she had eventually forgiven James and his friends for the werewolf incident, it had pushed their wedding back six months on its own because she was so angry. Sometimes, she caught herself wishing that Severus hadn't joined the Death Eaters, just so that she could apologize to him about how she had called James a hero in that incident, and he hadn't told her the full story, even though it would CLEARLY have been in his best interests to. Moreover, James had used said story to paint himself as a bloody hero. As she was thinking to herself, she ignored the retorts of James and his fellow Marauders until she finally said,

"Fine! I'll ask him about it! But even if he's the one at fault, it would still be FAR short of what he would have to do before it was even!"

James then roared, "BUT HE'S A SLYTHERIN! HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT A SLYTHERIN IN SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT!?"

Lily cooly responded, "Because, although it did take me a while, I learned that there are things that are far more important than what house you are in! Besides! If I couldn't forgive him for this, I would have to give up on you guys about fifty times over!"

Turning on her heels, she went to go find her friend...

* * *

Evan Rosier frowned to himself; although he was happy to hear about the MASSIVE beating that Gryffindor took in the events of last night, he was very concerned about what he had been told by Avery and Mulciber. Apparently, Snape had actually decided to make friends with another Mudblood, and it was bad enough that he had been told that Evans was strictly off-limits without adding another to the list. 'This is getting out of hand; Snape has clearly lost focus in recent months...'

He watched as Snape chatted eagerly with one of the two Mudblood girls over at one of the tables in the library; he seemed to be getting along with her far too well for his own good. It was bad enough that he had been trying to maintain his friendship with bloody Evans, but at least he had had the excuse of getting too close before knowing what was good for him in that case. This time, there was no excuse.

Evan then proceeded to start penning a letter to Lucius Malfoy; as he was an actual Death Eater, he could overrule any declarations made by the Knights of Walpurgis, who were made up of Students who were hoping to eventually become Death Eaters, if he wanted to. He could give Snape the warning and reminder he needed while getting rid of that stupid immunity pact that Snape, Mulciber, and Avery had forced down his throat.

After finishing his letter, he ran off to the owlry to send his letter, barely noticing as he nearly crashed into Lily Evans, who had been trying to make her way into the library. 'This has become too big to ignore; Snape has to get rid of those stupid bints NOW! Otherwise, he can kiss his chances with the Death Eaters goodbye!'

**Author's Note: **I hope you guys liked the prank! If you are wondering why Mcgonagall took so many points away, I was basing it off of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorceror's Stone, where Harry, Hermonie and Neville all got fifty points taken away from each of them, but the difference was, while the Marauders are popular in Hogwarts, Harry was a hero before he even arrived. In addition, because of the famous, pureblooded Slytherins used for the prank, Hogwarts would have been drowned in complaints if they hadn't been severely punished.


	10. Friendship, Love and Loyalty

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 10**

**Friendship, Love and Loyalty**

_Only the best have all three..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Sunday December 2nd, 1974_**

"Sev?"

Severus Snape turned away from Mary Macdonald and the interesting conversation about the uses of transfiguration in magical combat to see his best friend standing between a pair of bookshelves, hands on her hips, with a blank expression on her face; he nodded and waited for Lily to continue. After swallowing, she obliged, saying, "Sev, could we talk privately for a bit? I need to talk to you about some stuff, and its kinda important..." She trailed off, looking at him meaningfully.

Severus looked at Mary in question, wondering if she would mind if he told her about the prank, and, after putting her finger to her lips for a moment, gave him a short nod as if to say "If you must..."; Severus then nodded to Lily, then got up from his chair and followed her until they reached a classroom, the same one they always used for their study sessions.

Once they arrived, she cast a silencing charm on the door and started talking, "Sev, I need to ask you something; you know how James got caught last night in the Great Hall doing a prank right? Well, he said that you were the one who pulled it; I am not saying if you did, but if you did, could you please tell me why? And if you didn't, then we can get going."

Severus weighed his options; he could lie and she would give up on it, and that would make Potter look like even more of an imbecile, but he felt that he really had nothing to hide anyway. Even if his motives weren't completely pure, he did have good reasons for the prank in addition to the selfish ones. Finally, he said, looking her in the eyes, "I'll tell you, but what I say can't leave this room. OK?"

She looked back into his eyes with her own emerald green ones, appearing like she was searching inside of them for the secrets to his soul; although a little uncomfortable, he met her gaze unflinchingly. Seeming to come to a decision, she nodded slowly and said, "Very well then. Why did you do it Sev? Please tell me..."

Swallowing hard, Severus began to walk slowly around the room as he started speaking, "Well, you might not know this, but my friends have been putting a bit of pressure on me because of your's and Mary's um...characteristics, and well, I've been looking for a way to prove to them why you guys should be acceptable to them. Not that I have a problem with you girls or anything!"

Lily smiled slightly at him and said, "Don't worry Sev, I think I understand; its just that they have a problem with us, but what does that have to do with the prank on the Marauders?"

Severus said, grimacing, "I don't know if you heard, but Black has apparently been dating that Sabrina girl so that he could get Mary to go out with him by making her jealous. Well, Thursday night, I found Mary in here, crying, because Sabrina told her how thrilled she was that the love of her life, Sirius Black, had made her a woman and had taken her virginity, solely so that he could make Mary jealous. Well, apparently, Sabrina and Mary are really good friends, so Mary became extremely angry at Black for using one of her best friends like that, so she told me that she would do anything to get revenge on him."

Lily looked horrified, then cried out, outraged, "Black SLEPT with Sabrina!? I mean, I know that he was being bad enough using Sabrina to make Mary jealous, especially considering her feelings for the giant wanker, but to actually take her virginity!?" Lily looked as if she wanted to go and practice a few dozen hexes on the jerk, but apparently settled for nearly obliterating all of the empty vials in the room with a series of powerful jinxes and hexes. Finally, she continued, a tad calmer than before, "Sev, did you really do all that because of what Black had done?"

Severus then said, "That was part of the reason, but there is more. In addition to what I already mentioned, I quite simply, wanted to get some revenge on Potter and his fellow toerags." Seeing that she was about to interrupt, he continued swiftly, "I know, you probably are a bit disappointed, but that was only part of the reason. You see, because of Mary's help, Arcturus, Mary, Justin and I were able to frame the toerags for that particular prank. Thanks to Mary's help, I have managed to get you and her protected for the rest of your time at school from any activities from the 'future Death Eaters' as you call them. Besides, none of the Marauders were even hurt by the prank, and I had them at my mercy, so you have to admit that it was far lighter than anything that they would have done in my shoes..."

Lily looked at him, once again gazing into his eyes, then said, "Fine, I won't tell anyone about it, but what do you mean by 'protected'?"

Grinning, Severus said, "Exactly that; the Knights of Walpurgis, or 'future Death Eaters', agreed that, for the remainder of your time in hogwarts, they won't insult, hex, or do anything that would harm you in any way! Mary would have done it without that, but I felt that it was a good opportunity and wanted to take advantage of it."

Lily seemed to think for a moment, then got a crafty grin on her face and almost purred, "Reaally...?"

As he nodded, Severus got a touch worried about that evil grin and wondered what she was thinking about when, before she left, she said quietly, "Thank you for telling me the truth Sev; it means a lot to me that you were honest to me."

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Severus smiled and said, "Of course I did; I want you to know what I did and be proud of me."

She only smiled, a beautiful look on her face...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Tuesday December 4th, 1974_**

James, as he was busy making a small red light appear on the top of Professor Flitwick's head with his wand to some scattered, quiet giggles of the class, frowned in annoyance as he thought of the events that had recently occurred. He and his friends had gone from the most popular students in Gryffindor to social pariahs over the course of one night thanks to the efforts of Snivellus. What made this particularly annoying was the fact that he knew that Lily didn't care that their house had been humiliated thanks to the greasy git, and had still remained his friend. This meant that he couldn't get revenge in any direct form, for if he did, it would undo all of the recent progress he had made with Lily because he was 'bullying her best friend'.

'Really, Lily should know better by now; he's a greasy git whose greatest desire is to become a dark wizard and fight against the forces of the Light. Even if he wanted to change, he couldn't because he hates those on the side of the Light, so she might as well chuck him now. Besides, he is a Slytherin and everyone knows that Gryffindors can't be friends with Slytherins. I gave up my friendship with Arcturus Mulciber when he got sorted there, so its not like I don't know what she will be giving up and all.' He paused for a moment and reminisced about the break-up.

_Flashback Just after James' sorting Three Years ago:_

_"James! Why are you doing this!?" Cried the young boy who had recently been sorted into Slytherin house. "Isn't our friendship more important than some stupid houses!?"_

_James sighed and looked away from him. "Sorry Arcturus, but this is the way that things have to be. Gryffindors can't be friends with Slytherins; its just not done. Listen, I am really sorry, but you have to understand that it would've happened sooner or later, so just accept it and let's move on with our lives..."_

_Arcturus looked disgusted as he stared back upon his now ex-friend, then said, "James, I have to say that this is really pathetic of you. I mean, you used to say that nothing would end our friendship, but now that we are in different houses its good-bye?"_

_James looked at him sadly, then replied, "I really am sorry, but I just can't be friends with a Slytherin. I honestly thought that you wouldn't end up in that house of evil gits, but you showed me that I was mistaken. I wish that things could be otherwise, but they can't, so farewell..."_

_As James walked away, Arcturus roared, tears in his eyes, "WELL SCREW YOU! You lousy wanker! Obviously 'the Light' and what house I am sorted in is more important to you than our friendship, so GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE!"_

_James sighed again. 'Sorry Arcturus, but I did what I had to do...'_

_End Flashback:_

Sometimes James wondered what would have happened if he and Mulciber had stayed friends, but, just like with Lily and Snivellus, they would have had to eventually give up on their friendship or betray their houses. 'Ugh, sometimes I wonder if Mulciber was right about me, but he did end up choosing to join those bloody Knights of Walpurgis, so I would have had to fight him in the end anyway.'

Sighing again at his status of the pariah, he was completely when Lily tapped him on the shoulder; whirling around, he realized that, without his attention, class had ended. He forced a grin at her and said, "So Lily, have you decided about the dance next Saturday?"

She grinned mischievously at him and said, "After careful consideration Mr. Potter, I have decided to accept; it just wouldn't do for the lead of the famous Marauders to go to a dance unescorted after all."

James then smiled. 'At least one thing this week has gone right...'

* * *

**_Three Days Later Friday December 7th, 1974_**

Lily frowned as she carefully considered her clothing options for the ball that were in her trunk, then sighed as that total came up to zero; luckily, there would be another visit to Hogsmeade coming up on the twelfth, or she would have been panicking. 'Now the only question is who to bring with me. I want to get a man's opinion, but I want to surprise James; it would also be convenient if a girl were to come as, frankly, I am not quite sure if I remember the formal fashions from this time period.'

After careful consideration, she sighed as she realized that her only real options were still Severus and Mary. 'Normally, I would be thrilled to go shopping with Sev in Hogsmeade, but he reacted really badly to the news that I was going with James to the ball. He looked completely devastated when I told him that I was unable to go with him as 'just friends' and that I was going with the 'head toerag of all people'. Still, Sev has always been a good friend to me, even if I haven't been one to him, so I'll have to do something to make it up to him because he might have some difficulty getting a date. He doesn't even seem to notice that Mary seems to be spending a fair amount of time flirting with him lately.' It had actually been getting fairly annoying watching her practically throw herself at him, although he didn't seem to notice it.

Still, maybe it would be worth it to Severus to help him realize Mary's interest in him; admittedly though, even though she had acted as something of a matchmaker once or twice, she didn't really feel like doing it in this case, although maybe it would be worthwhile. 'Besides, if those two go together, then maybe Sev and I could share a dance at the ball once. Although the thought of trying to help her woo Sev does make me somewhat uncomfortable, I have to admit that it would be better if those two got together than letting Mary have to choose between Sirius and going alone.'

After Lily had found out about Sirius' little scheme to woo Mary, she had calmly thought it over, calmly told him off, and calmly kicked him in the balls five or six times. Unfortunately, he hadn't taken the kicking calmly at all, and had had to go to the hospital wing and stay overnight. Still, Sirius, although he had finally cut loose Sabrina Percival, had yet to take a hint about Mary's utter loathing of him, even after she threatened to test the _Sectumsempra _spell that Severus had taught her on his testes if he didn't leave him alone.

Lily then went over to the classroom for their normal 'study session', only to be pleasantly surprised to see Severus already there, even though they were both half an hour early. Apparently, with no Marauders out to get him anymore, he was able to make it there earlier and earlier without difficulty. She decided to ask him about going to Hogsmeade with her later, and just spent her time with him teasing him about the reddish powder he had somehow gotten on his face, making his eyebrows scarlet. It had been extremely funny, especially when, with an evil grin on his face, he tossed something in his caudron, causing the entire room to explode with the same reddish powder, covering both of them in it. They then had a powder war, with Snape eventually winning when he used W_ingardium Leviosa_ to bury her in about thirty liters of the stuff.

When Mary finally arrived, Lily was extremely happy. 'More targets, more fun...'

Apparently, the other Muggleborn girl didn't care quite as much for getting covered in red powder, so it was quite unfortunate for her that neither of her friends cared much about her objections...

* * *

**_The Next Day Saturday December 8th, 1974_**

Sirius Black sputtered out curses as he paced around his dormitory, periodically blasting hexes at the walls and such. After the events of last Sunday, his plans for the ball had gone straight down the tubes; just like James, his popularity had been shot by the greasy git's little prank. Although he was under no obligation to avoid hexing him, unlike James, Mary had taken to practically dogging Snivellus' footsteps, glaring at Sirius and Peter if they even seemed to look at the slimeball.

As Sirius cursed, Remus Lupin just kept reading his book, waiting for the hothead to cool down. When Sirius finally seemed to have run out of steam, Remus shut his book and started talking, "Padfoot, I am sorry to say, but you do not have the slightest chance with Mary Macdonald anymore; any possibility of her going with you before would have been based solely on the fact that she didn't have anyone else interested in her..."

Sirius interrupted, annoyed, "But no-one else is interested in her!"

Remus sighed and continued to explain, "As I was saying, you might have won before, but that was before you took the virginity of her friend solely to make her jealous and want to date you! If you had used any sense, you would have realized that that situation was just BEGGING to be avoided!"

Sirius petulantly said, "Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time! And its not like you said anything to stop me!"

Remus looked down at the floor and said, "I should have though, and I can hardly believe that taking a girl who loves you and using her like a toy would have helped you win her friend over in any way! I mean, do you remember the time that Alice Nesbitt slept with James just to get to you?"

Sirius exploded in outrage, "SHE WHAT!? How DARE she!? I am gonnna...!"

Remus interrupted, exasperated, "I was lying, trying to make my point. Do you see how angry you got at the idea that Alice tried to use James to get to you? Well its about ten times worse because Sabrina actually LOVED you you stubborn fool! Mary literally wouldn't go out with you except for some dumb revenge plan against some other guy, then she would..."

Sirius, grinning, interrupted, "That's it! Remus, you're a GENIUS!" He hugged Remus and ran downstairs, leaving Remus staring back at him thinking to himself,

'This can't be a good sign...'

* * *

Lucius Malfoy sat down as he read to himself Evan Rosier's letter. 'Hmm, I don't think that the time has come yet to make Severus decide, but there is no way that I will permit him to allow this...travesty to occur...'

He immeditately started penning his response to Rosier, and another one directly to Snape...

**Author's Note: **Lily's naivete is still quite impressive, as she has no real idea that Severus is in love with her. I thought that James, although he has shown himself to be loyal to his fellow Gryffindors, probably wouldn't allow himself to be friends with a Slytherin. Considering that he was pureblooded, it was fairly likely that he had at least one or two friends who went to Hogwarts, so I decided to make one of them Arcturus Mulciber. I hope that you will enjoy this chapter.


	11. Of Dresses and Schemes

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 11**

**Of Dresses and Schemes**

_A new threat emerges..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Four Days Later Wednesday December 12th, 1974_**

Severus swore as he bundled himself to go to Hogsmeade; he was sure that, sometime in the past four days, someone had had to have used the _Imperius _curse on him to make him be so stupid as to agree to help Lily shop for a dress for James-bloody-Potter. 'Why the hell did I agree with her!? CURSE that infernal, pleading look of hers! It should be outlawed if it was strong enough to make me want to help her clothes-shop for her to IMPRESS POTTER!' After uttering a string of curses in such profusion that he was sure that, if Slughorn had heard, he would have had detention that night for sure, he calmed himself down.

'OK, don't forget, you are the Half-Blood Prince; you MIGHT lose the battle, but this is not a battle like those arrogant dunderheads think, but rather a war. As Potter clearly has made an advance in gaining Lily's affections, it is time for me to counter it with a move of my own to gain her interest.' He then sighed, cursing mentally. 'It appears that I can no longer afford to go on waiting for her to wise up or me to work up the nerve, rather I must show her just how much that she means to me. Otherwise, I could lose any chance before it begins.' He grimaced as he pictured him waiting until the point that he confessed to her and she showed her wedding ring.

'OK, before I do that though, there are some preliminary moves I can do; Black was stupid to try to make someone jealous by using a girl, but there is nothing wrong with trying to show off my best side at the ball. I suspect that Mary Macdonald might be willing to go with me as friends, just to avoid having to deal with Black's so-called 'wooing', so I shall ask her to go with me I believe.'

Severus then said aloud, "No matter what, I will not miss the ball this weekend, even if I have to go without a date."

He heard a chuckle behind him and swore under his breath as he realized that Arcturus had heard him, then Arcturus said to his surprise, "Severus, the reason I laugh is because the idea of you being unable to find a date for the ball this weekend is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Even though we didn't exactly announce it to the rest of our house, everyone has a pretty good idea of what happened the weekend before last; your popularity is most assuredly on the rise, you can be sure."

Severus raised his eyebrow, then said sarcastically, "Really? And I suppose that practically every woman in Slytherin is interested in taking me to the dance, but was too shy to say..."

Arcturus chuckled, then replied, "Close, but not quite. Most of them just pieced it together over the last couple of days, so they haven't really gotten interested until now, but still, I myself have a good five witches who told me that they would be willing to pay good galleons if I were to take them to the ball Saturday, and those are just the ones who went up to me."

He then continued with a sigh, "Unfortunately, I think that you got the best of the lot aiming after you; you know Lucius' cousin? Selene?"

Severus thought for a moment. "Hmm, long blond hair, blue eyes, large breasts and a near-permenant false smile?"

Arcturus laughed. "That's the one! Word in the dorms is that she is seriously interested in you for some reason, although I am unsure why she is so interested. It certainly can't be your personality"

As Severus sneered, faking fury, he thought to himself. 'Interesting, although it is merely for social climbing, it would certainly give me someone to take to the ball if Mary doesn't want to go. It certainly wouldn't make me feel guilty, as they would be using me as much as I would be using them, UNLIKE what that blasted Black did to that Sabrina girl! It is strange though that Selene would be interested in me, even considering my newfound popularity. I had better be careful...'

* * *

James was pleased as he thought about the little trick he had done yesterday; he had been studying for a History of Magic exam when he overheard Mary and Lily conversing about a topic that he found quite interesting. Apparently, the two of them had been planning a little shopping trip in Hogsmeade today, and they had been talking about the dresses that they would be purchasing for the ball, but, unfortunately for them, said dresses weren't cheap at all. James immediately owled the only major provider of fine evening-wear, Lady Bella's, and let them know that any purchases made by Lily Evans, Mary Macdonald, Sabrina Percival and Severus Snape were to be billed to the Potter account in Gringotts.

He knew that including Mary and Severus on the list would definitely make Lily happier, and the fact of the matter was that he felt guilty about what Sirius had done to Sabrina; she had been bawling her eyes out for two days after he dumped her. Apparently, she had truly loved him after all, so he felt it was only fitting that he make it up to her for the rudeness of his best mate. As for Mary and Severus, he knew that Lily would have purchased the clothes for them anyway in her name, so it was no real additional cost for him to include them as well, and Lily would likely be impressed.

'Heh, besides, it will be extremely funny when they find out just what Ms. Macdonald has planned for her so called friend; now there's a true Gryffindor girl who knows the way things work!'

_Flashback Three Days ago Sunday December 9th, 1974:_

_James watched as Sirius finished explaining the most ridiculous and complicated revenge plan he had ever heard of to Mary, who had long ago placed her finger to her lips and frowned deeply in concentration. Finally, she adopted an almost unreadable expression and said calmly,_

_"So Black, let me get this straight. The point of this is, I tell Severus that I will be attending the ball with him, but I will really be letting you take me there, correct?"_

_Sirius grinned, then replied while nodding, "Yes it is my dear Margaret Macdonald; I know that you are still mad at me for the 'incident' with Sabrina, but this is an excellant opportunity for us to get vengeance upon the prick that deserves it, so what do you say to it?"_

_Mary smiled mischieviously, then said, "Well, I wasn't sure, but I think that I will have to accept your offer." She then said politely, "Would you like to meet me at the entrance to the common room Saturday at 7 so that you can take me to the ball?"_

_Sirius only grabbed her hand, kissed it and grinned while saying, "I would be delighted, dear Margaret, to accept your offer!"_

_End Flashback:_

James smirked; he could hardly wait until Saturday, when Severus would get all dressed up to take Mary to the ball, only to be informed in front of the whole school that she had actually chosen to go with Sirius instead, even though he had used her friend to try to make Mary jealous. 'It will positively KILL him, the greasy git! Saturday should be a night to remember, and the best part is that my generosity to Severus will only make it funnier when it all goes to hell around him!'

He chuckled some more as he and his fellow Marauders slowly walked along the road to Hogsmeade, thrilled at the thought of being able to help Lily and make Severus' life hell simultaneously...

* * *

Mary giggled as she watched the look on Severus' face; he was learning the 'joys' of shopping with girls. He had a nearly permenant scowl on his face and was complaining constantly with one-liners like "Huh, I must have shrunken a good three feet, because clearly you think I am a house elf!", "Before you ask me if I want to go into that next shop, my answer is 'NO!', so go ahead and ignore me, like before..." and "I wish I had a time-turner so I could go back and KILL the MORON who invented SHOPPING!"; it was really quite amusing.

Luckily, as a wizard, he had access to lightening spells, as the two decided to shop for everything else they could before coming back to the dresses. Mary wondered how he would have survived if he had had to carry all the parcels and bags that they had purchased in addition to being nearly bored stiff by listening them compare merits of various shoe styles and types. Then she remembered that she had had another point to going on this trip with the two of them beyond shopping for the various accessories and such necessary for the dress.

'Mary, focus; unfortunately, Severus is more than a little thick when it comes to the affections of girls who aren't Lily...or girls who are. This means that anything subtle will be less than useless. As such, I need to both demonstrate to him that I am sexy and unattached, and that I want HIM in particular to ask me to the ball.' Casting her eyes around for an idea, she smirked as she saw a particular store. 'Perfect.' She then said aloud,

"Hey guys, mind if we go in there? I was wondering if I could pick up something to go with my dress."

Lily then whispered back at her, "Are you sure that you want to go with Sev into a lingerie shop? I mean, he is a guy after all."

Mary mouthed "I know." back at her and grinned as, for once, Severus showed no signs of complaining about going into a different shop. 'Now then, I have to make it obvious that I am interested, but not make it seem like I am a tramp, so I will have to do this just so...' Batting her eyelashes at Severus and bending toward him a little, she then asked him casually,

"So, Severus, do you have a date to the dance yet?"

Severus, sighing in relief as he was able to sit down on a chair and put down the bags, looked back at her and colored slightly, seeming to have some difficulty avoiding trying to look down the front of her shirt, then he said, "No, but Arcturus said that apparently there are a lot of girls in my house who would like to go with me thanks to our little escapade. Apparently, I have become somewhat popular or something."

Mary had to bite back a groan at the sound of that; if she didn't get him to ask her soon, then he would probably end up thinking that he had no real chance to avoid going alone, and take one of those Slytherin popularity whores. 'Just great, in addition to the fact that he clearly thinks that Lily is a goddess, I have to deal with all of these other women who only care about how popular he is.' Deciding to step her game up a notch, she continued,

"Yeah, I've been having difficulty finding a date...who isn't a toerag. Apparently, Black decided to place some sort of claim on me a while back, and that means that no-one in Gryffindor house is willing to take me to the ball, or anywhere for that matter. You see, he threatened to do very disturbing things to them involving an oven, three house elves, and dinner at the great hall, so they figured that there were better options elsewhere. In any case," Mary held up a pair of silk bras with a lot of lace, making sure the listed size was clearly visible from his perspective. "which of these two do you think is better? Personally, I think I prefer the black one, but which would you like to see me wear to the ball?"

He blushed beet-red and started muttering aloud, "Black...eh...red...32C...uhhhh."

Mary fought back a smile. 'That should definitely do the trick, at least once he stops mumbling like that.' Turning, happy now that she figured that her prey had been caught, she asked Lily,

"So, did you want to get anything Lily?"

Lily seemed to think for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah, I think I am going to go without, you know one of those sorts of dresses where you don't need or want a bra? I think I'll go with that."

As Severus' eyes bugged out, Mary cursed mentally. 'Well, that was definitely a mistake. He will probably start drooling any moment now from trying to picture her sans-bra. Mary you are such a genius! NOT!' Trying to distract him, she said quickly,

"Uh, let's make our purchases and finish up on our list of things to buy. I think the only thing left is the dress, right?"

After the other two nodded, Mary quickly did so and the three of them started walking to Lady Bella's. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Mary noticed someone running out of an alleyway. Turning to get a better look, she managed to catch a look of the girl, just before she ran into Severus, sending them both crashing into the ground. 'Oh great, Selene...'

* * *

Lily chuckled as Severus fell beside her onto the soft snow in the streets with a thud, then she realized why and scowled. She certainly remembered Selene Malfoy, who was currently a Slytherin fifth-year; while she never became a Death Eater officially, she had been more harmful to the cause of the light than ten of them. As practiced as her cousin was at the art of political manipulation, she had a talent for it that seemed to defy all logic.

Selene systematically made more and more jinxes and curses illegal, something which wouldn't affect the Death Eaters much, but would decrease the combat capabilities of the non-auror Order of the Phoenix members, while doing her best to impede any Order initiatives in the government and finding as many loopholes as possible to arrest all the Order and Ministry combatants that she possibly could. By one estimation, she had managed to single-handily reduce the number of Order combatants by 25% and Ministry combatants by 10% by having them all chucked into Azkaban for various accidental crimes. If one treated them as effective kills, she had, on her own, killed more members of the side of the Light than anyone but Voldemort himself.

In addition to her skills at political manipulation, Selene was also very attractive, even at this young age; she was medium height, slender, had long blond hair, clear blue eyes, a chest in her teens that, even in her adulthood, Lily had envied, and the ability to win over members of the opposite sex that was difficult to match. To make matters worse, she had conveniently fallen on top of Severus, and even now, had her bountiful chest pressed up right against his. Lily then said waspishly, "So Malfoy, are you too heavy to get back up?"

Selene, smiling lightly, got up slowly, then said, "So Severus, how have you been doing? I heard that you managed to brew your Blood-Replenishing potion for Professor Slughorn's class so well, that he wanted to send your recipe to the editors of the book so that they could include it in the next edition."

Lily grinned as, to his credit, Severus said, while getting up,"That was an exaggeration; now, if you will excuse me..."

Selene quickly continued, "I was wondering if you had managed to find yourself someone to go to the ball with you this weekend, because I have been looking for someone intelligent and handsome..." She batted her eyelashes at the last bit, but Severus said coldly in response,

"Listen, Mal-Selene. I am rather busy at the moment, so if you would allow me to get going, there is some shopping that my friends and I are doing together..." He gave a quick, pointed look at Mary and Lily as he said this.

Mary and Lily, with identical smirks, took the cue and said, "So sorry Selene, but we MUST be going. Goodbye now!"

Selene grimaced, but allowed the two girls to lead Severus away, while calling out, "Well, I guess I will see you later Sev-er-us!"

Upon making their way inside Lady Bella's, Mary and Lily started modeling dresses for each other and Severus. Lily was having a bit of difficulty, although Mary seemed to have made her choice relatively quickly, choosing a modest silver dress, which nonetheless managed to show off her legs to great effect.

'Hmm, this one looks nice I think; green to match my eyes, and shoulderless to boot. I'll bet that James' jaw will impact the floor at mach one when he sees me in this!'. When she was coming out again, preparing to model yet another dress for them, hoping that this one would be the one to knock James' socks off, she heard Severus speaking.

"...Would you like to go to the ball wi..."

Upon hearing that, Lily was instantly struck with a sense of nausea, and, running back into the dressing room, she plugged her ears and started humming loudly so that she didn't have to listen. 'Ugh! I do NOT want to hear that...'

* * *

Severus snarled as he returned to the castle; Mary and Lily had wanted to spend a little more time in Hogsmeade, but he had things to consider. 'Curse that POTTER! I KNOW that he has something up his sleeve, but why would he help me pay for my formal-wear?' He had been seriously annoyed when he found out that Potter had impressed Lily greatly by setting it up so that her dress, and her friends clothes, were all free. Severus would have probably tried to break Potter's bank, but didn't want to get Lily angry, so he only bought the robes he planned to wear to the ball, and a couple of relatively cheap ones for normal usage.

He still couldn't figure out why James had been so helpful, but he was definitely suspicious of him, and Selene as well. She was well-known in Slytherin as a mover and shaker, and he knew that she never did anything for somebody else's benefit, unless it was Lucius' idea. There were certain rumors going around that she liked her cousin as much more than a cousin, but the marriage to Narcissa had put a stop to her plans. They were probably false, but it was certainly known that she adored her cousin and would do just about anything he asked. Severus considered dealing with her as a very bad thing, as she was very tricky.

His thoughts at the moment were put to rest, when suddenly he saw the malfoy's screech owl, Odin, streaking towards him, letter in hand. Getting the chills for some reason, he opened the letter.

_Dear Severus..._

**Author's Notes: **Ooh! cliffhanger! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and don't hate me for adding yet another OC to my fic.


	12. Honor and Dishonor

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 12**

**Honor and Dishonor**

_Even the devil keeps his word..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Three Days Later Saturday December 15th, 1974_**

Severus frowned to himself as he watched the clock tick down the minutes until he had to get ready for the ball; he couldn't say that he would rather go with Mary than with Lily, but if he couldn't go with Lily, then Mary would easily be his preferred choice. He had considered asking her strictly as a date, but although that might have been fun as, even though she wasn't Lily, he had had a few dreams involving her romantically as well, and one even involving the both of them, he had decided to ask her as a friend. 'It really wouldn't be fair to Mary; I think that there might be the possibility of...something between us, but I would have to admit to myself that, in all honesty, if Lily asked me to dump Mary to go out with her at any time, I would say yes. Mary is one of my two best friends; she deserves better than that for sure.'

Besides, he had other things to be concerned about; if Lily, as it was starting to appear, ended up with Potter, then he might have to give up on her, no matter how much it hurt him, at least for the short term. He remembered the happiness he had seen shining in her eyes when she had told him that Potter had, in addition to her, paid for Sabrina's things at Lady Bella's as well, and felt nauseous. 'If she starts talking about how 'cute' or 'handsome' Potter looks, that is where I will draw the line. If that should happen, I will have to practice self-obliviation so that I don't die from sheer disgust.'

Severus definitely remembered when she had told him that she was going to the ball with Potter; she had claimed that it was just a change of pace, but Severus could tell that she was just lying to protect his feelings. Admittedly Potter and his fellow Marauders had stopped hexing him now that it meant that Mary or Lily would join in on the battle if they were there, and then afterward, whichever one WASN'T in the battle would verbally ream them up in Gryffindor tower.

He could tell that Lily did have quite a bit in common with Potter when it came to Gryffindor things, and he could also see that she had a great deal of attraction towards him, but he also knew that it was far from that simple. Lily was a person with many principles, and while she was frequently lax in applying them when she didn't see the full situation, once she did she would always apply them to the best of her ability. That meant that Potter would have to change significantly for him to be able to keep her affection, because Severus was quite confident that, as he was, Potter just didn't have the level of maturity to keep a woman's interest. 'In fact, now that I think about it, this might be for the best in the long run. If she gets together with him now, then when she breaks up with him, it will be much harder for him to regain her interest...'

There were other factors that gave Severus reasons to hope. While he could tell that Lily was obviously attracted to Potter, he had been around her and paying attention to her long enough to be able to pick up on the little signs that told him when she felt attraction for someone. Obviously she had had crushes before, and with the experience of watching her through said crushes, he could tell that, in addition to Potter, she was attracted to him, Severus Snape, as well. For example, she had a certain smile that he only ever saw when she was using it on himself or Potter, and she would always find excuses to get close to them when one of them was close to her. These thoughts brought a thin smile to his face, but he frowned as he considered the other piece of bad news he had received...

_Flashback Three Days ago Wednesday December 12th, 1974:_

_Getting the chills for some reason, Severus opened the letter..._

Dear Severus,

It has come to my attention that you have made a treaty with certain...undesirables that protects them for an extended period of time in exchange for a one time grant of aid. As your superior, I have decided to grant you a boon in dealing with this problem by vetoing said treaty before it could reach the wrong eyes.

I understand that you would rather keep them as your allies for as long as possible, but it is likely that you will eventually reach a parting of the ways; even though it is quite foolish of them, undesirables tend to believe the propaganda and fight against us even though many of the things they have heard about us are exaggeration.

As such, I strongly reccomend distancing yourself from the undesireables who you consider your allies as quickly as possible, for it will hurt more in the long run and might hamper you in your rise through our organization if you don't. My cousin Selene would certainly be willing to assist you in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Lucius Abraxas Malfoy

_End Flashback:_

Severus wasn't foolish; he was starting to suspect that he might have been mistaken in his disbelief of the propaganda which the Ministry of Magic was putting out through the Daily Prophet and similar newspapers, at least to a degree. If what he had thought about the Death Eaters only looking down on the wrong sort of Muggleborns was true, then it wouldn't have particularly mattered if he had protected them, especially if it was only from school bullying.

'Still, Lucius is but one man inside of the Death Eaters; it may be that only a few of them truly believe that all Muggleborns are garbage. Still, I think I might want to reevaluate the propaganda, just to see if it can be verified as fact. I do NOT want to be part of any organization that thinks my two best friends are garbage...!'

* * *

"Hmmph! Its about time that Lucius put Severus in his place; he is a pretty good friend, but he really needs to look at the big picture more, don't you think Evan?"

Evan Rosier grinned back at Justin Avery and gave him a small chuckle, then said, "Indeed Justin; Severus was being quite foolish in trying to protect those pathetic MUDBLOODS!" He seemed to savor that word, then continued, "It is certainly good to be able to call pathetic so-called human beings by the titles that they truly deserve, is it not?"

Evan then frowned and said, "Hey Arcturus, are you busy thinking deep thoughts?"

Arcturus Mulciber jerked his head up; he had been staring at his mashed potatoes deep in thought. Regaining his bearings, he said quietly, "Um, I'm just thinking about something; you two go on talking..."

Justin frowned, then shrugged, "OK Arky!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Fine...Arcturus! Anyway, do you think that Severus will get around to getting rid of those pathetic, primitive Mudbloods now that Lucius has informed him of what's what?"

Evan swallowed a bit of steak, then put his left hand to his chin thoughtfully, before responding, "Hmm, I doubt he will, at least not that quickly. Severus likes to roll around in filth a lot for some reason; it will be tough to get him to see reason, but I think that eventually he will see that some things just can't be changed and some people just have to be given up on as friends, even if they have a great set of knockers! Hey Arcturus! Are you full already?"

Arcturus forced a smile, before replying, "Sorry, lost my appetite; I think that there might be something wrong with the mashed potatos or something. I'll see you guys at the ball; I should be getting ready now anyway."

He didn't go to the dorms however, but rather to this one little nook that he was sure that no-one but the Marauders and Filch knew about, so that he could think to himself. While he certainly didn't care for the fact that Severus' friends included so many Mudbloods, Arcturus didn't particularly like the idea of giving up on someone because of one characteristic if you cared for them; it reminded him far too much of what had happened between him and Potter. If he were to try to get Severus to give up on his friends, then he would be acting just like POTTER did, and, like Severus, he would rather remove his right arm with a Muggle handshooting...thingie than act like Potter did in any way, shape or form.

While they had once been friends, ever since his first year at Hogwarts, Arcturus had felt ill whenever someone had compared anything he did to what Potter did. Although both could be considered bullies, and Arcturus freely acknowledged that he was one towards Blood Traitors and Mudbloods, at least he only hexed those who would eventually be his enemies anyway; Potter had made Severus his enemy simply because he was friends with Lily and he wanted to drive that 'slimy Slytherin' away from her. While her parentage disgusted him, Arcturus had to admit that Lily wasn't that bad for a Muggleborn, as she had managed to keep her friend even with most of Gryffindor trying to make her give him up.

There was something else as well though. 'We are supposed to be the Knights of Walpurgis are we not? A knight is to be honorable and brave, vanquishing the evil of those who would seek to destroy us. By breaking the treaty we had made with those two...Muggleborns, we have dishonored ourselves by saying that our word is meaningless.' Arcturus swore to himself that, even though the treaty was null and void, he would continue to honor it, for he was a valiant, brave Knight of Walpurgis, and his word was his bond...

* * *

Mary frowned as she checked herself out in a mirror. 'Hmm, A little less lipstick I think...' After removing her lipstick with a quick charm and redoing it, a tad lighter, she smiled. 'Perfect!' Then Lily asked,

"Do you think that this amount of eyeshadow makes me look too trampish?"

After a quick check and nod, which caused Lily to scowl, Mary decided to get to her own eyeshadow when Lily said suddenly, "Out of curiosity, why are you interested in Severus Mary?"

As she applied her eyeshadow, Mary thought to herself for a moment, then responded, "Well, I would have to say I like him because he fulfils my ideal requirements in a man Lily."

Lily raised her eyebrows, then asked, "You are interested because he meets your ideal requirements in a man? That's why you want to date him?"

"Yup, its not like we have to decide who we want to spend the rest of our lives with immediately, so I decided to start looking by finding boys who match my requirements, then go from there." Mary then blushed slightly, before continuing, "Still, I have to admit that, in addition to meeting my requirements, there are other reasons that I am interested in him..."

Lily giggled slightly, then said, "Heaven forbid that you have SOME hormones Mary. You are a girl, not a machine!" Getting more serious, although still giggly, Lily then asked, "So would you be interested in telling me any of these reasons?"

'Ugh, knowing her, even though she isn't as bad as SOME girls,' Bertha Jorkins flashed by quickly in her mind, 'she still won't stop until she manages to make me red as a tomato, so I might as well tell her...' Sighing, she said,

"Well, you know how, when he is working on a new method to making a potion, or creating a new potion, his eyes seem to become really dark, almost like pieces of obsidian? Well, whenever he does that, I can't stop myself from blushing, and I hope that there is a good place to sit nearby, because I get really weak in the knees, you know?"

Lily smirked, then said, "Yeah, I know what you mean, he gets so intense when he is like that that I sometimes have, you know, DREAMS, about it."

Mary was well into tomatohood, but continued anyway, deciding that, if she had to be embarrassed by talking about Severus, then so did Lily, "You know, even though Severus doesn't get outside much, he probably has a more fit body than his robes show. After all, a fair number of potion ingrediants are quite heavy and using too much magic near a potion or its ingrediants is usually a bad idea. Have you ever seen Severus with his shirt off?"

Lily grinned, then said, "Yeah, last summer the two of us went swimming together; he has quite a few scars, but the overall appearance is CERTAINLY something worth looking at. I would even have to call him yummy, if I was asked about it."

She then continued in a near-whisper, "You know, I heard rumors about that the size in one's nose indicates the size in...other parts; sometimes I would wonder just exactly how...much he could fit under those robes, you know?"

'Well that backfired...' Lily didn't seem embarrassed at all, but Mary was growing more and more uncomfortable about the way that Lily was talking about her 'best friend', so she decided to change the subject to what eyeliner she should use. After another twenty minutes, Mary looked at the clock and sighed. 'I guess we had better get going if we don't want to be late...by more than fifteen minutes.'

Pointing the time out to Lily, who sighed, before saying "I guess we had better get going..."; the two girls went downstairs to greet James Potter and Sirius Black, the two boys who they had agreed to let take them to the ball...

* * *

'WHAT THE HELL!?'

Lily was horrified when Mary walked out of Gryffindor tower hand-in-hand with Sirius Black; Severus had told her that Mary had agreed to go with him to the dance as 'just friends', but her soon to be ex-friend, or, as she would now call her, LYING WHORE, was walking with a smile right next to Sirius Black of all people. 'That WITCH! And not in the spellcasting way! How dare she play with Sev's heart!? The moment I am alone with her, I am going to demonstrate just exactly I became an Auror!'

Lily, eyes blazing with fury, managed to force a smile, although she was wondering if she could see what color the coldblooded, lying whore would bleed if she hexed her, then she grabbed James by the arm and dragged him over to a corner, saying politely "Just a moment!", as she did so. She then asked James, in her 'bad auror' voice, "James. Please explain to me why Macdonald has chosen to take Sirius to the ball all of a sudden. I could have sworn that she agreed to take Severus to the ball, or did I mishear?"

James, clearly somewhat scared, said in a voice that had a small quaver, "Well Lily darling, I don't know what she said to Sni-Snape, but she has been planning to go with Sirius here for days now. Apparently you mis..." Lily gave him a burning glare here, "...Nevermind."

Lily, deciding that, after the ball, she would cast first and ask questions never, held James by the hand and rejoined the group, which had added Remus with Sabrina and Peter with Alexandra, and gave Macdonald an innocent smile, which she returned with a crafty one. As they walked there, Lily thought furiously, her mind split between three topics; figuring out whether James had been lying or not about not knowing what Macdonald was up to, figuring out just how to hide Macdonald's body after she blew it into about a million chunks, and just how she was going to keep Severus from being utterly humiliated by that traitorous, lying whore, Macdonald.

'Well, I doubt that, with how much time they spend trying to one-up each other, that James wouldn't know about Macdonald's plan, because Sev would have definitely mentioned that he had a pretty girl going on a date with him too, especially when James bragged about bringing me along. I suspect that there are more than a few potions that use human body parts, and Severus is always trying to get me to give the Dark Arts another chance, and as for Sev...' Lily looked over at James' smirking face and sighed. '...I hope that I can come up with something...'

As they arrived at the entrance to the Great Hall, Lily saw Severus standing there with Mulciber, laughing. Severus was quite well dressed, in dark blue robes, and he had even gotten his hair cleaned up, a major task for him because it meant that he had to spend two full days without brewing a single potion, lest the fumes mess up his hair. For most witches and wizards it wasn't a big deal, but he was around them so much, that his body seemed to have gotten used to them to the point that it provided him with extra sweat and grease so that he wouldn't get hot. It wasn't that he smelled bad, but it certainly made dealing with his hair an exercise in futility.

Lily knew the exact instant that Severus caught sight of Macdonald, or more specifically, her date, for his smile seemed to shatter into a million pieces, and a look of dawning horror seemed to take over his face. Mary merely grinned at him as Sirius smiled arrogantly and James looked like he was having the time of his life. Suddenly, Lily knew what she had to do; this was low even for James and Sirius, and she wouldn't let them or the lying whore humiliate her best friend like this. Opening her mouth at the same time as each other, Mary and Lily spoke simultaneously,

"I am sorry James, but..."

"Sirius, I wanted to thank you very much for taking me to the ball tonight..."

**Author's Note:** Ooh! Massive cliffhanger! Enjoy! For the record, Matrice's responses to wynnleaf and duj were almost exactly what I would have said.


	13. Vindictive Beauty

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 13**

**Vindictive Beauty**

_Far beyond the bounds of justice..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Saturday December 15th, 1974_**

"Sirius, I wanted to thank you very much for taking me to the ball tonight, but if you will excuse me, my date, Severus Snape, is here."

Everyone stopped talking and, to Sirius Black, the world seemed to have become surreal, hazy like a bad dream. Wanting desperately for him to have misheard the words that Mary had just said, he croaked out disbelievingly, "Um, huh? Wha? I thought, you...my date...ball together."

Mary, a proud, malicious smile on her face, said mockingly, "OH! You meant that you wanted me to be your date for the ball. Silly me, I thought that you only wanted to take me TO the ball. Oh well, I suppose that you should have been a little more specific, not that I would have agreed of course. I wouldn't go anywhere with you as your date if you were the last man on earth."

'Why Mary? I love you. Why have you done this to me? Why did you decide to humiliate me and take Snivellus as your date and let me stand here, watching? Do you...hate me?' Sirius was dumbstruck; he had been trying desperately for years now to try to get Mary to go...somewhere, do...anything with him that could be remotely considered romantic, and when she finally let him take her to the ball, it was only to humiliate him in front of half of the students in Hogwarts. Watching her walk away, Sirius chased after and put his arm on her shoulder, crying silent tears as he said, pleadingly,

"Mary, why have you done this to me? I loved you so much, and for so long; why did you decide to take SNIVELLUS of all people over me? He doesn't even love you! Why? Why!? WHY!? Do you hate me or something!?"

Mary put her hands on his chest and pushed him away from him, until, unable to stand, he fell on his butt. She then leaned over towards him and laughed in his face, before replying, speaking slowly and clearly, yet quiet enough that no-one else could hear her, "Actually, I happen to have strong feelings for SEVERUS, and I would happily date him if he wanted me to. Just to make this clear Black, I do this because there is no-one in the entire world who I hate more than you. For heaven's sake, I would use you as a human shield to protect that Voldemort fellow before and do it with a smile. I don't care how much you care for, or love me, because I. Hate. You. I have always hated you, ever since our first year here. So go ahead and drop dead, I will happily dance on your grave. Just make sure that you LEAVE ME ALONE!"

She then walked over to Snivellus, who was looking back at him with an expression that Sirius Black never wanted to see on Snivellus' face when he was looking at him, pity. Everyone else in the room stared at Sirius, looking at him like he was some sort of strange freak, so he left the room, tears streaking down his face as he ran blindly. As he ran into his room in the Boy's dormitories of Gryffindor tower, he sobbed, then buried his face into his pillow.

'I can't believe it...That ungrateful, little wench... She took everything I felt for her and stomped all over it, before urinating on top of it. She was playing me all of this time, pretending to be friendly, when she secretly wanted to be Snivelly's whore. She is just a...ARGH! Fine! If she want's Snivellus, she can have him! But I swear that she will pay for what she did to me!' Sirius swore vengeance upon Mary Macdonald, then cried himself to sleep, tears of misery and fury trailing down his cheeks...

* * *

James watched his best mate's tearful exit in stunned horror. Then watched as Mary put her hand in Snivellus', then laughed lightly, turning to view his escape with a satisfied smirk. James, and the rest of the Marauders and their dates, proceeded to walk slowly, numbly, into the Great Hall, which had been turned into a beautiful ballroom, as he had requested so long ago. He then turned to Lily and said, subdued, "Um, did you want to say something to me back there?"

Lily, her face frozen in a look of stunned disbelief, said quietly, horrorstruck herself, "No, not really. It wasn't very...important."

The two walked onto the dance floor, then started to dance stiffly, minds clearly elsewhere, before James' horror turned into anger and he growled out, "I know that you don't like us picking on Snivelly, but this was so low, that even you have to admit that he deserves to be paid back for this, with interest. Right?"

Lily seemed to look at the floor for a moment, then said slowly as she looked back up at him, "No James, I don't..."

James looked at her in stunned fury, then said in an enraged whisper, "Look at what he did! He just humiliated one of my best mates AFTER he cost us hundreds of house points! I didn't go after him after that incident, but even you have to agree that this was completely over the top! Even considering our rivalry!"

Lily looked into his eyes, then said quietly, still slowly, "Its not that I don't agree with you that this was completely excessive and horrible, its that it wasn't Sev who did this..."

James looked at her, disbelievingly, then laughed, before saying, "Of course it is his fault! He probably used some form of potion on Mary, or even if he didn't, he had to have put her up to it in some way! I mean, this sort of thing is exactly what Snivellus WOULD do to humiliate us Marauders! I KNOW that he was behind what happened to us two weeks ago! Don't even try to deny it!"

He had started on a rant when he heard a quiet voice come from her as they continued dancing, a tad poorly, saying, "It was Mary..."

James, stunned, said, "Lily, are you joking? I mean, Mary is a Gryffindor! Why would she do something like this to a fellow Gryffindor!?"

Lily quietly said, clearly making sure that no-one else was in earshot, "I will admit that Sev was probably involved in what happened two weeks ago, but tonight was all Mary. You must have seen the look on Sev's face when Mary walked in, hand-in-hand with Sirius. He honestly thought that she had chosen to come to the ball with Sirius, and was clearly mortified. When I saw that look on his face, I honestly thought that you and Sirius had cooked up some kind of plan to humiliate him again. He clearly had nothing to do with this..."

James was still unsure, but then Lily continued, "...In addition, Mary was involved in the incident two weeks ago big-time. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but think about it. You told me, in confidence, that those masked people were able to blast you when you were right under the invisibility cloak. Even Sev hasn't managed to figure out a way yet to be able to see people who are invisible, at least not without some sort of prop on the cloak. Well, I know for a fact that it would be ridiculously easy for anyone in Gryffindor to attach something to your cloak, considering how you just leave it in your trunk all the time. What if Mary had been the one to do that?"

James, unsure, asked quietly, "What are you saying? I mean, if she helped in that, she cost Gryffindor the house cup almost single-handidly! What kind of Gryffindor would betray her house like that!? I mean, what would have been her motive?"

Lily then said, "I think that she did more than alter your cloak; don't you remember? MARY was the one who asked you guys to go to the kitchen to get us refreshments for the party, then she left shortly before you did, and then she didn't come back for about an hour. At the time, I thought that she had been busy...Ahem." Lily blushed scarlet, before continuing, "...But what if she had been one of those masked people? Didn't you say that one of them could have been a girl? As for motive, I KNOW that she was furious that Sirius had taken Sabrina's virginity at the time, and she hated how you guys were always picking on her new friend, Severus."

James then shut his mouth and continued to dance with Lily, this time making sure that they danced to the best of their abilities, which were certainly impressive. Meanwhile, he mentally put Mary at the top of his list of people he hated, even above Snivellus, for at least he would have had good reasons for doing what he had done. Mary just betrayed all of Gryffindor and stomped all over of the heart of a boy who loved her for no real good reason.

'If Snivellus had done this to us, or vice-versa, at least we would have had the excuse that we have been hated enemies since our first train-ride here. What Mary did was far in excess of any provocation, and she WILL pay for this...!'

* * *

Severus sat at one of the tables near the dance floor with Mary while Lily went to dance with James. He couldn't deny that he enjoyed watching Sirius Black suffer like that, and he would have been happy to do it himself, but he was worried for Mary's sake. 'What Mary did is so far beyond what I have ever done to the toerags that I wouldn't be surprised if they want to get revenge on her as well, and I doubt that Lily would stop them. Even I have to admit that they would have a very good reason to go after her, even if they DON'T know about what Mary did in that prank we pulled on them, and I HATE them.'

He was deeply lost in thought, looking at the enchanted ceiling, which was showing stars twinkling in a cloudless sky, when Mary spoke up, sounding worried,"So...Sev...erus, are you angry at me for what I did?"

Severus had to snort at that, before he replied, laughing, "Honestly, I certainly didn't mind watching Black suffer like that, although I would have felt better if I had known what you were up to."

Mary smiled at him, then said, "I figured it would minimize any backlash to you if it were obvious that you had nothing to do with it Sev...erus."

Realizing what she was up to, Severus said, "I suppose that having two people call me Sev wouldn't ruin my image any more than it has already been ruined." He then said with a grin, "I mean, you completely destroyed me when you brought me into a lingerie store to help you shop! Mind you, if I had to die, that was certainly a great way to go..."

Mary beamed at him, then put him into a deep hug, before saying, "So...we're OK? Sev!"

Severus let her stew in her own juices for a few seconds, before saying, "Yes, I think we are, although I have to say that I am worried about the consequences of what you did. I mean, it would be one thing if I were behind that, but, as bad as what Black did to Sabrina was, he certainly didn't deserve it for only that. Of course, if I had done that, I could pull out a laundry list of good reasons to have done that, but you have to admit that it was a bit over the top..."

Mary bit her lip, then said, shrugging, "Probably, but he deserves it in general for what kind of person he is. In any case, I think that we have spent more than enough time talking about someone like that, so how about we do what you are supposed to do at a ball, and dance?"

At that, Severus rolled his eyes, then, in a voice that would have been expected to be heard from a fifty-year old man in the Victorian era, said, while standing up,"Indeed young maiden, and would you care to have this dance?"

Teasing, Mary said, "I would be delighted to sir!"

As the two walked onto the dance floor, then started dancing, Severus grinned internally. 'I'll bet that both her and Lily will be shocked! Those Knight parties with all the ballroom dancing certainly come in handy! Also, I didn't practice in private for the weeks leading up to the dance for nothing after all.' He then whispered to Mary,

"Just follow my lead..."

* * *

Mary was extremely nervous as she walked onto the dance floor. She had danced at parties before, but she had never been ballroom dancing before. 'Maybe I should have at least looked at the steps before coming to this party, rather than planning how to humiliate Black...' She had no real choice, save to trust Severus and obey his instructions. She gritted her teeth, looked straight at Severus and prepared to make a fool of herself, then prepared to be laughed at as she followed his lead...

She danced with him for several minutes, embarrassed as more and more people started watching her. She waited for them to start laughing, teeth still gritted, as he led her through one routine after another, but rather than laughter, she heard a sound that sounded surprisingly like...clapping?

Without taking her eyes off of him for more than a second, she looked around, only to see almost everyone in the Great Hall clearing a spot for the two of them to dance, several of them clapping, with more and more being added to that number every minute. For a moment, she was dumbstruck, but then, taking her eyes off of Severus for another moment, she looked into a nearby crystalline statue of a lion, likely added because of the Gryffindor sympathies held by both the Headmaster and the people who had 'encouraged' him to hold this ball. 'I look...beautiful?'

And she did; although she could only see herself for but a moment, she looked like a princess of the stars dancing in the night sky standing next to Severus in his dark blue robes. She grinned at Severus, who had a small smile on his face, and whispered, "How did you manage this...?"

His black eyes gleamed slightly, and he whispered in her ear as he drew her close for another advanced routine, "One requirement of pretending that you are pure-blooded, is knowing how to dance..."

Mary shivered, although it wasn't cold at all in the Great Hall at the time, then whispered back to him, "Thank you..."

She realized that, somehow, Severus was such a good dancer that he had reached the level that you even make your partners look brilliant. Smiling widely, she continued dancing in a near-dazed state, periodically peeking at his shining black eyes and blushing. After an interminable length of time, Severus led her, still smiling dumbly, back to the table which they had departed from, then went to go get them some drinks. Meanwhile, Sabrina Percival practically ran over to talk to her, "You have GOT to tell me what you have done with that boy! I mean, I always thought he was a bit of a greasy git, but WOW! I mean, where did he learn to dance like THAT!?"

Mary let her friend keep talking, unable to respond beyond "Mmhmm"s, "Yeah..."s, or brief nods. Her mind had gone completely blank and she had visions of wedding gowns and priests saying "...I present to you, Mrs. Severus Snape!" flying through her head. She knew that it was just the aftereffect of the overwhelming display, but she certainly knew that she wanted to see if she could get him to go on AT LEAST one real date with her...

* * *

**_The Next Day Sunday December 16th, 1974_**

'OK, maybe I got a little carried away...again...'

Lily giggled as she got herself ready for bed; it was just after midnight, and she had just spent a good half-hour making out with James Potter after they had been talking for a couple of hours to themselves. One of the biggest strengths to their relationship had always been their sheer physical attraction to one another, and tonight was no exception. Admittedly, Lily hadn't really been planning on a makeout-session, but she had been so touched by how James had talked so kindly to Sirius, that she just couldn't stop with only one, two or even twenty kisses. 'It was just SO cute!'

Admittedly, she was effectively in her twenties, but she was still more than a little weak against cuteness. She had had to leave the Great Hall, James in tow, after watching Severus and Mary start on their little...performance. She had been extremely angry by the fact that, after what she had done, Severus had still been willing to dance with her, and so well too. 'Well, I suppose that I can understand why he would feel little to no pity for Sirius after all of the years they have spent hating one another and with Sirius tormenting him for all of those years, but why did he have to make her look like some kind of goddess!?'

No-one could say that James was a poor dancer in any way, and under normal circumstances, once he had pulled himself together, he would have been easily considered to be quite impressive in his skills, but Severus had been a true wonder to behold. Because their various in-house parties tended to have certain...restrictions on who one could bring as a guest, she had never seen him dance before, and she had been insanely jealous of Mary, as she knew that Mary couldn't dance all that well, but she looked like she had been born to dance with Severus guiding her. 'It made me positively sick to my stomach I have to admit, when I watched her...'

Lily then remembered why she and Mary had grown apart after they had both left Hogwarts; although she was generally kind and took time to consider all the angles before getting angry at someone, she had been considered unfit to be an auror because her brand of justice had been considered a bit...excessive. Lily remembered how she had been discharged after a scene where she had come upon the man who had killed the person she was seeing. 'NO LILY! DON'T GO THERE!'

Lily shuddered as she got in her bed, desperately trying to forget THAT scene; it had been one of the most bloody things that she had ever had the displeasure of witnessing in her life, even more than several Death Eater massacre sites. Before killing the man, she had disarmed him first, then proceeded to break nearly every bone in his body over the course of twenty minutes with a combination of _reducto _and _confringo_spells. 'She was always considered to be EXTREMELY vindictive...'

As she drifted off to sleep, now snug in her bed, Lily wondered fleetingly how it would have gone if she had asked for a dance with Severus, ideally with James out of the room. She pictured herself in Mary's position on the dance floor in the Great Hall with Severus for a few seconds before falling asleep with a smile on her face...

**Author's Note: **Remember, as much as you guys might like Mary in this story, no-one is perfectly good or evil...except Voldemort. I do hope that several of you were fooled by the cliffhanger last time=). Enjoy!


	14. Holiday Correspondence Blizzard

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 14**

**Holiday Correspondence Blizzard**

_Our thoughts on paper..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**I am not Timestamping this chapter because it takes place over the whole of the Christmas holidays and then some.**_

_Dear Severus,_

_I would like to cordially invite you to a Christmas Eve party on behalf of the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort; it will be a formal affair, although with those robes that you were seen in during the ball at Hogwarts I heard about, you should have no issues. You may bring one guest. Please RSVP should you wish to come._

_Sincerely_

_Lucius Abraxas Malfoy_

* * *

Dear Lucius,

_I would be happy to come, but I am afraid that you would consider my 'and guest' to be undesirable. As such, I must respectfully decline your invitation._

_Sincerely_

_Severus Tobias Snape_

_

* * *

_

Dear Severus,

_If your 'and guest' should happen to be one of the two undesirables who you have been staying in contact with, then I am afraid that your supposition would be correct. Please, for the sake of our friendship, reconsider this._

_Sincerely_

_Lucius Abraxas Malfoy_

_

* * *

_

Dear Sev,

_Hey! I was wondering, what happened with you and Mary? I mean, although you dislike Sirius, I am surprised that you were so supportive of what she did; I thought that you had gotten your 'revenge' in that prank on the second, didn't you?_

_I still remember that horrified look on your face when you thought Mary had gone to the dance with Sirius instead of you; why would you want to have someone else look like that? Honestly, before she said anything, I had thought that it was some plan cooked up between James, Sirius and Mary to humiliate you again. Listen, don't tell anyone, but if they had actually been trying to humiliate you like that, I would have taken you as my date...err 'just friends'. Eheh._

_Btw, I kinda told James about how Mary had played a big part in the prank on the second as well as the one during the ball, so you should be off the hook, more or less, from the Marauders. I know it was told to me in confidence, but I wasn't gonna let you get blamed for something you didn't do. (Its hard to explain, but trust me when I say that it was the only way to make sure you weren't blamed for the ball fiasco)._

_Lots of Love,_

_Lily_

_

* * *

_

Dear Lily,

_Well, although I can't honestly say that I minded Black getting humiliated TOO much, I had a very good reason for being so supportive, although I admittedly didn't find out until after the fact. _

_You see, Mary told me that Black had come up to her and asked her if she would "_Tell me that she is attending the ball with me, but really be letting Sirius take her to the ball_"; needless to say, after that, any remote sympathy I felt towards Sirius Black was shot as, really, she had only turned the plan that he came up with to our advantage rather than allowing him to humiliate ME. Even though I admittedly don't know for certain, I would be good galleons that Potter had something to do with said prank; they are just too close not to tell each other these things._

_As for telling the head toerag about Mary playing a big part in said prank, I can't say that I am happy you did so, but I will eventually forgive you I believe. However, if you should wish for this 'forgiveness' to occur faster, then it is STRONGLY reccomended that you include new DADA material to learn in certain presents you may or may not be giving me for Christmas._

_Your Always,_

_Severus Snape, _

_The Half-Blood Prince_

_

* * *

_

Dear Sev,

_That DOG! I am going to give him a piece of my mind the next time I see him. Just for the sake of supposition, would you mind it too much if I attempted to practice your _levicorpus _jinx upon Sirius the next time I do so? I can't be too sure if James is telling the truth, but he claims that he wasn't involved in the prank with Sirius._

_I cannot say for certain, but I believe that Father Christmas is very interested in me receiving your forgiveness as soon as possible, so there is a distinct chance that you will be receiving said material. Also, Father Christmas would be happy to point out 'his' pride in how you are attempting to learn more defensive spells, as you only need to be struck once to be defeated in battle sometimes..._

_Lots of Love,_

_Lily_

_P.S. I believe that_ The Half-Blood Prince_ will also be receiving a delicious package of biscuits, NOT made by yours truly._

_

* * *

_

Dear Lily,

_If you were to do so, I would certainly enjoy receiving any evidence that you could provide of you doing so, hypothetically speaking of course. In addition, I would be happy to thank this Father Christmas for the gift and the advice, however I am limited to thanking you so... Thank you very much Lily._

_I am especially grateful for the biscuits, ESPECIALLY because they are NOT from you as I would not enjoy having to get them removed from my stomach my first day back._

_Yours Always,_

_Severus Snape, _

_The Half-Blood Prince_

_

* * *

_

Hey Padfoot/Moony/Wormtail!

_I have good news and bad news on the Lily front; the good news is that I managed to get her to go with me on two, count them, TWO dates during our holiday break! Yes, I know that you guys are probably cheering for me, but there is the annoying problem of SNIVELLUS! I mean, its not like he is with us on our dates, but it sure felt like he was!_

_Like every other subject, she would go "Sev did this", or 'Sev told me..."; it was extremely ANNOYING! I mean, they may still be friends, but its not like he's bloody dating her! I am at wit's end here! I mean, for crying out loud, I asked her not to mention Severus once for a whole hour, but she could only do that by sticking to short answers! How the hell am I supposed to make it through dealing with her sick obsession with that slimy Slytherin!?_

_I mean, I know that she will eventually have to give up on him when she starts dating me seriously, but its SOOO irksome having to suffer through these stupid rants about what Snivellus did in the meantime!_

_HELP ME PLEASE!_

_James_

_

* * *

_

Dear Prongs,

_I am afraid that I have little that I can do to help you; mind you, I still think that you are mistaken in trying to make her give up on him, but you will just have to deal with listening about him. I suppose that you could look at it this way: you are getting top-quality information from a spy that the enemy trusts above all others._

_Take care,_

_Remus_

_

* * *

_

Sorry Prongs,

_This isn't really my field, but maybe you could try talking in subjects which Snivellus isn't likely to be interested in. I dunno, good luck!_

_Your friend always,_

_Peter_

_

* * *

_

Hey Prongs!

_I actually have an idea that might help you; you know how we have been talking about paying back Snivellus and Macdonald (We need an insulting nickname for her too, how bout Mrs. Snivellus?)? Well, I'd bet that Lily expects you to do something to Severus, right? Well, what if I was the one who pranked him, while you focused on Mary? That way, you have 'plaudible denial', or whatever its called. Not only that, but maybe you can tell her how cowardly that he really is, and that way, after my little prank, she will realize that she is SO much better than he is, and ditch him once and for all!_

_Whatcha think Prongs!?_

_Sirius_

_

* * *

_

Dear Padfoot,

_Thank you so, So, SO MUCH for reminding me why I decided to make you my best mate! That is utterly brilliant! I haven't figured out how to deal with Mary yet, but there is no way that Lily will be expecting ME to do the pranking! Just make sure that the prank is genius as usual; I don't want to deal with the greasy git any longer than I have to..._

_James_

_

* * *

_

Prongs,

_I don;t think you have to worry about that; I think that I came up with something truly brilliant, although I should probably check with the DADA professor about parts of it. The best part is that, even if he avoids the prank, he will look like the snivelling coward he is!_

_Sirius,_

_Brilliant inventor of pranks!_

_

* * *

_

Dear Mary,

_I must say that I am more than a little worried about you; I mean, I am thrilled about how you humiliated Black like that at the ball (What I saw in that wanker, I have no idea), but SEVERUS SNAPE!? I mean, its not like he's a bad person it seems, especially how, from what my lil' bro Toby told me, Severus actually helped him, when he got teased by Avery again, by distracting Avery by telling him about a spell he had been working on. _Langlock_, I think it was called. Oh well._

_The problem isn't that he is a bad person, its that its completely obvious to EVERYONE that he is completely crazy about Lily Evans, at least obvious to everyone except, ironically, Lily Evans (Hard to believe how dense she can be sometimes eh?). Well my point is, how the hell do you plan on winning him from Lily? I mean, I doubt that you really have a chance, I am sorry to say._

_Your Friend,_

_Sabrina_

_

* * *

_

Dear Sabrina,

_Actually, I think that you might be underestimating how much the boy loves Lily; I mean, its almost stupid how much he loves her, and its so funny how she completely misses it._

_However, even though he loves him a lot, that doesn't mean that I am just going to lay down and die; I have some tricks up my sleeve as well. First of all, there is the fact that, quite simply, Lily has no idea how he feels about her, and I intend to keep it that way as long as I can manage, second, Lily has started dating Potter and, while I can't say for sure if that one is going to last, it DOES give me a window of opportunity at the least._

_My little dilemma is that I have two roads I can take to win Sev's heart (Did you hear? He told me that I can call him 'Sev' at the dance!). I can go the slow, steady route, or try to all but jump him. My problem is that the performance of each of these routes depends on what Lily does._

_You see, if I were to try to fight Lily for Sev's heart right now, I would be COMPLETELY, UTTERLY screwed! Quite simply, if she asked him to bloody MARRY him right now, I have no doubt he would merely ask where she wanted to hold the reception. Basically, fighting her for him at this point would be trying to bring a knife to a gun-fight (Muggle expression meaning really, REALLY stupid)._

_What this means is that I have to try to guess if she will be sticking with James for the long haul, or if she will give up on him sooner or later. The slow route gives me an easy victory if she plans to stick with James, but leaves me high and dry if she changes her mind (You see, I am pretty sure that Lily has feelings for Sev just like he does for her, she just hasn't figured out either of these things yes). The problem if I go for the fast route is that it can blow up in my face if I come on too strong._

_This is just too complicated..._

_Until we return to Hogwarts,_

_Mary_

_

* * *

_

Dear Mary,

_Hmm, I think I understand the gist of the NOVEL you sent me, and you certainly have quite the dilemma. Do you go for the fast win, and have a chance of losing regardless of what happens between Lily and James, or the slow route, and pray that Lily sticks with him (I can't say that I would blame her if she chose to stick with James. After all, he did pay for my dress and stuff as apology for what his friend did, and that was really sweet of him)._

_Ugh, its too complicated for me; just follow your heart and leave the war strategy to Remus. He likes that sort of thing._

_Your Friend,_

_Sabrina_

_

* * *

_

Dear Lily,

_I, James Potter, cordially invite you as my date on the next Hogsmeade weekend. We could even try hanging out at Madame Puddifoot's if you like._

_From,_

_Yours in Love,_

_James_

_

* * *

_

Dear James,

_Hmm, that sounds like fun, although Sev and I were hoping to check out the shrieking shack... Would you care to meet us there?_

_Lots of Love,_

_Lily_

**Author's Note: **I am sorry for the unusual format. I hope that it read well and that you all enjoyed it. I will be returning to the prior format shortly.

Some of you wondered why Lily seemed to do a 180 on her opinions of Sirius and James between Chapters 12 and 13; the reason was actually quite simple. She changed her mind about them probably having tried to do that to Severus as it seemed to be all Mary's doing. As for why she told James about Mary's part in the prank prior to that, that is something you have to really think about.

You see, similar to Severus and Harry in the 'future', James and Severus WANT to believe the worst of each other, so Lily figured she had to make it clear that Mary was definitely the enemy of the Marauders in order to protect Severus. Also, she didn't think that Sirius had set up a plan similar to Mary's, so it looked to Lily like Mary got her revenge upon the Marauders, then went over the top of that and HUMILIATED Sirius for spite.

In all honesty, in Lily's shoes, thinking and knowing what she thought and knew, I would hope that I would have made the same choice, because not telling James would have probably led to him dropping the hammer on Severus for something he hadn't even done.

As my knowledge of the Harry Potter universe isn't as complete as I would have liked, I have decided to offer up a poll to determine the future of this fic. Regardless of which of the options is selected, Lily and Severus will be ending up together as, quite frankly, Mary, while she has a reasonable chance, is starting from a very far position in the back.


	15. The Power of Fear

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 15**

**The Power of Fear **

_A price paid in innocence lost..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Friday January 25th, 1975_**

-SNORE-

Severus woke up with a start as Arcturus gave out a long, loud snore, complete with a phlegmy sound. He glanced at a nearby clock and groaned quietly; it was still only three in the morning. Figuring that Arcturus would be so loud that he would find it impossible to get back to sleep, he decided to go over to the common room. Besides, he had a lot to think about, thanks to what had happened last night.

_Flashback:_

_Severus smirked as his fellow Knights went about their normal meeting business; typically he would read a book in the corner while Justin, Evan and Arcturus would all try to come up with clever ideas to bring more power to their group, while being alternatively ignored and laughed at by the upper-year students. Suddenly though, Arcturus poked him in the ribs, making him sit up and pretend to be paying attention. One of the leaders, one Walden Macnair, a dark boy who was well known for his cruelty, was speaking, "...Agree with Mulciber and Avery on this particular idea; this would give us a terrific opportunity to demonstrate our power to non-house members, perhaps gaining us new Knights from the other houses. Speaking of which, how are those going Yaxley?"_

_Yaxley, a more polite sort of leader than Macnair, said calmly, "We have added Augustus Rookwood from Ravenclaw house, bringing us up to 5 Ravenclaws, 2 Hufflepuffs, and zero Gryffindors. Unfortunately, until recently, the prestige of the 'Marauders' meant that it was impossible to get anyone from the Gryffindor house to join us anyway."_

_At that, Justin laughed a little sycophantically, then said, "Well, its not like there would be anyone in Gryffindor house worth adding anyway, right?"_

_Severus and Arcturus looked at each other and sighed; Justin was a good friend, but he had a tendency to get a little carried away when it came to respecting the powers-that-be, making him look like a Pettigrew in miniature. Then Macnair continued, ignoring what Justin had said, "As suggested by Avery, I am putting Severus Snape in charge of this operation; from what we have heard, he did a truly fantastic job of humiliating our greatest enemies, and I suspect that, if his ability is really as great as was shown there, he will do a fine job. Knights! On our honor...!"_

_Everyone then chorused, "WE SHALL REDEEM OUR TAINTED WORLD!"_

_As everyone else filed out, Severus hung back, grabbing Justin and Arcturus, then asked quietly, "What the hell was he talking about!? What operation!?"_

_Arcturus sighed, then said exasperatedly, while Justin listened without interrupting,"Severus, I know that you think that this is basically just posturing until we actually join up, but you really should have been paying attention. OK, let me give you the gist of what he was talking about; I was going over our schedules with one of my cousins, the bloke in Ravenclaw, you know? And I noticed something that I thought was quite interesting; all of the fourth, sixth and seventh year Slytherin students have free period at the same time every Tuesday at four o'clock. Well, asking around, guess what I found out? It turns out that the first year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors have their Herbology class at the same time, and its the last class of the day, right?"_

_Severus nodded, not quite sure where his friend was going with this, but said, "Sure...?"_

_Arcturus, grinning happily, said, "Well, I checked the roster of that class, and its completely made up of Blood Traitors and Mudbloods, so its all made up of our future enemies anyway. Not only that, but Professor Sprout always stays in those greenhouses until its time to go to the Great Hall to eat. So I suggested to Macnair that all of the Slytherin fourth year, sixth year, and seventh year students who are in the order hex those firsties until they drop. That way, we make it clear to any Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs that, if they want to challenge us, we can always blast their first-years in retaliation. Its standard Soviet Selwyn tactics; make them fear you so much that you don't have to use force."_

_Then Justin chimed in, "You always talk too much about your dear Soviet, if it weren't for the fact he is dead, I'd bet that you would've married him before he came to Hogwarts!"_

_After Arcturus cuffed him lightly on the head, Justin continued, "Besides, as much as I can't understand why you are interested in them, I see that you want to keep those two...girls as your friends, so I suggested that they put you in charge of this operation. I mean, between this and the 'Marauder's Nap', you would have so much prestige, that you could protect them for the rest of your time at Hogwarts, Lucius or no! Just remember who did this favor for you of course!"_

_Severus faked a smile, but was internally conflicted by what he had just been told..._

_End Flashback:_

Severus wanted to scream, but managed to keep it inside; his friends had managed to get themselves completely sidetracked as to the purpose of the Knights and the Death Eaters yet again. While Severus knew that, in all likelihood, there would be a bloody war in the future against the Ministry of Magic and its servants, beating up and threatening to beat up on defenceless first-years wasn't going to help THAT once bit.

'I guess Arcturus will finally get his wish after all...' Severus sighed again; Arcturus had been reccomending since their very first year that they adopt the tactics of Soviet Selwyn, the infamous Dark Wizard who had successfully managed to _imperio_ the majority of the leaders of the Russian communist revolution, and eventually got their whole state named after himself. He was considered to be a villain by some and an anti-hero by others for his actions. He had forseen the rise of Grindelwald, but, rather than run in fear, had spent years preparing powerful magics, based off of the sacrifice of the Russian citizens, to cause massive damage to Grindelwald's forces and had nigh single-handily held him off for four years, until Dumbledore finally decided to fight him.

In addition to his control of the Soviet state, he was well known for his opinion on the fine art of ruling through fear. What made his control of the state particularly impressive was that he never bothered to directly control more than one person at a time, and merely relied on the fear that said person had filled his state in to control it with an iron fist.

'You know, Arcturus has pretty creepy heroes...'

* * *

**_Two Days Later Sunday January 27th, 1975_**

Mary growled as she impaled her sausage with her fork as if it had personally wronged her, then she looked around her for a moment, before turning back to glare at her defiant foodstuffs; she had been worried about, expecting even, Potter, Black and the rest of the Marauders unleashing some diabolical prank on her that would completely humiliate her, similar to the ones she had performed upon them or the ones they had performed upon Severus, but, as she was a Gryffindor, they had a far superior weapon: ostracism. 'Ugh, its not like sitting within twenty feet of me will give them the plague or something...'

Ever since she had gotten back from the Christmas holidays, she had been ignored and/or snubbed at every single turn. For example, she would be working on her History of Magic report and go to use the loo, only to find that someone had decided to use her parchment as a drink coaster, giving it a lovely water-ring or two, or she would be heading upstairs to her dormitory, only to find that someone had 'accidentally' broken the frame of the only picture of her late great-grandmother that she had. Even her friends ('former friends' she thought bitterly) had joined in, with the sole exception of Lily. Even Sabrina had turned against her when she found out through the rumor mill that she had been partially behind the prank that cost Gryffindor so many points, which Lily had let slip to Potter, and he had told his buddies, etcetera.

'Not that Lily was much of a friend anyway! I mean, it was her decision to reveal to POTTER about my involvement! I should have just gone into Ravenclaw in the first place! I mean, at least they don't have a bloody hive-mind!' however, even though she was furious at Lily, she had chosen to forgive her, more or less, when she had apologized to her in tears, telling her that she had only told him because it had appeared to her at the time that she had decided to humiliate Black for no reason and would have let Severus take the blame for it. Speaking of Severus...

She blushed as she recalled the dance from a little over a month ago; he had told her afterward that he had been practicing for the last few weeks prior to the dance, as well as learned how to ages ago. 'I mean, I know that a LOT of the reason he practiced so hard was probably because he wanted to take Lily to the dance, but it was really cool how he didn't stop even after he found out that she was going with Potter. That alone made the dance worth all the trouble it has caused me...'

She started to wonder to herself. 'I wonder, if I had ended up in Ravenclaw, would I have been better off than I am now?' She looked at it from several different angles. 'Hmm, if I had ended up in Ravenclaw, I might have been able to form our little trio that we have made earlier, and it would have been from three houses instead of two, but if I had ended up in Ravenclaw, trying to help Sev's and Lily's friendship along, I might not have even had a ghost of a chance at this point in the first place. After all, it wasn't until last October that the two of them really started getting close; imagine if they had been that close from year one? Brrr...'

In the end, she smiled, 'It may have cost me a lot, being in this ruddy house with its ruddy hive-mentality, but I think that it was worth it. Besides, I always heard that the Gryffindor food is slightly better than what the rest of the houses eat...'

* * *

Lily wanted to scream, cry and blow up something, preferably all at the same time; when she had made her plans with both James and Severus, she had forgotten to check the date of the next Hogsmeade weekend, which turned out to be, to her great misfortune, Valentine's Day. This meant that, when she had told James about her already planning to go with Severus, he had entered quite a snit indeed, causing them to have quite a row.

_Flashback One Week ago Sunday January 20th, 1975_

_James glared at her, clearly furious, and said angrily, "You mean to say that, in addition to forgetting that it was Valentine's Day, you were planning on bringing Snape along on OUR date as a third wheel!?"_

_Lily opened her mouth to argue, probably with a witheringly cold response, when he continued, shouting now,"Or was it really you bringing me on your date with HIM!? Tell me, if you had found out that it was Valentine's Day, and I hadn't asked, would you have been going out on a date with him like he asked!?"_

_Lily glared at him coldly, then said witheringly, "Well, if that's the way you are acting, then maybe I will go with him and leave you behind. Besides, I seriously doubt that he had any idea that what he was asking for would be misconstrued as a date..."_

_As usual, when the hot-blooded James ran into some cold reason, he calmed down, and, after a few seconds of heavy breathing, said, "Sorry Lily, I got a little carried away; I mean, its not like you would be interested if it had actually been a date, right?"_

_Lily was about to answer with an automatic "no", when a picture of such a thing ran through her head. 'What would it be like to go out with him on a date? I mean, James always tries to make our dates fun, fun, fun; what would Sev do if he took me on one...?' She squashed that thought, reminding herself that she was dating James and Severus was her best friend, not someone she wanted to see without his shirt off... all that much...'Whatever, its not like it will matter much, considering how into Mary he seems to be...'_

_She realized that she had forgotten to respond when James, who had been staring at her, then shouted, sounding appalled, "Oh COME ON! Don't tell me that you are attracted to the greasy git!"_

_Lily blurted out, "Sev is not a greasy git! And he is really quite handsome!"_

_James' eyes bulged._

_End Flashback:_

Needless to say, the rest of the conversation had included more than a fair bit of shouting, but in the end they had managed to come to a peace, which had been very much encouraged by a bit of make-up making-out. Unfortunately, she had been forced to tell Severus that she wanted to spend Valentine's Day with her boyfriend, and she hadn't realized what day it was when she had told him she would be coming with him. However, to make it up to him, she had agreed to spend all of next weekend with him, which he had agreed was a fair trade.

'For some reason though, when I gave him the blow-by-blow of the argument, he seemed to be on cloud nine. He has gotten better about James and I's dating, but I still am surprised that he had enjoyed listening to us argue THAT much.' That then brought her thoughts to other matters. 'I guess I will have to postpone THAT particular part of the 'scheme to get James and Sev to be friends'. Still, I REALLY, REALLY want them to at least be able to be in the same room without having World War III break out inside of said room. I mean, I am not going to spend my life without Sev again, no matter what, and when I marry James, he will have to deal with the fact that I am James' wife, which would be really helped if they actually became friends!'

Somehow, she suspected deep in her heart that the idea of the two of them ever becoming able to spend time in the same room without a war breaking out was little more than a pipe-dream, but she knew that choosing between the two of them would be something that she would REALLY rather avoid having to do...

* * *

**_The Next Day Monday January 28th, 1975_**

Sirius Black frowned; unfortunately, even though it had turned out that James hadn't had to do a bloody thing to Macdonald to make her suffer as much as he had, his honor meant that he had to make the prank meant for Snivellus AT LEAST as devastating. If he didn't, then he would always feel awful, for whatever Macdonald had done, Snivellus was still the primary target, especially since he was clearly trying to woo Lily away from James when he already had Macdonald after him. He snorted as he remembered one part of Macdonald's humiliation. 'Ironic, she pranked and humiliated me because of what I did to one of her friends, and now that friend won't even speak to her!'

Sirius then looked down at the paper he had been writing his ideas on; they were all brilliant ideas for pranks, and would certainly humiliate Snivellus, but the problem was, that even at best, they were unlikely to get rid of the real problem. After all, Lily for some reason didn't care if her little pet was the laughingstock of hogwarts, and lately, the pranks and insults had all been back-firing straight at James' face. Even if that didn't happen this time, Sirius had learned his lesson from Snivelleyand Macdonald's plots: if you are going to take the time to set up a prank, don't make it something they can shrug off, hit them where it HURTS.

'OK, how could I hit Snivellus where it really hurts? Hmm, OK, what does he have that he really cares about? Let's see, he has his pet-owner relationship with Lily, his supposed friendship with Mary, his Dark Magic, and his Death Eater buddies. Now, which of those can I hit?' Sirius spent the remainder of the evening thinking this over VERY carefully.

**Author's Notes: **I hope that this explained a bit more to you guys of why Lily is trying to get James and Severus to become able to tolerate one another. Although the odds are about the same as Voldemort deciding Muggleborns=HOT!, she REALLY wants them to at least try, because, the way she figures it, she will end up married to James and the mega-best-friend of Severus. Needless to say, if they still hate each other's guts, then it would make it extremely difficult for her to deal with the situation.

As for Mulciber ending up together with Mary. The odds are only slightly higher than her suddenly changing her mind and deciding to marry Sirius Black. The reason is, that while, similar to Avery, Mulciber has some good qualities, he, unlike Severus, really, truly believes that Mary and Lily are inferior simply because of who they were born from. Although I suspect that they are of the opinion that there can be good Muggleborns, they would view being Muggleborn as similar to having a bad case of halitosis; even if you are good despite the halitosis, you still have halitosis. As such, I would STRONGLY advise that anyone who chose that particular option to vote again.

Could someone tell me what I am doing wrong with my polls btw? For some reason, although it shows up, no-one has been able to vote in my poll as to the outcome directly. If someone would give me a step-by-step guide to making a poll that actually works, that would be GREATLY appreciated.


	16. Settling Internal Conflicts

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 16**

**Settling Internal Conflicts**

_A truth finally revealed..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling or Edmund Burke, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Monday January 28th, 1975_**

Severus looked around the Slytherin common room, trying to disguise his anxiety as he did so; he had decided not to lead the operation, for it went against every reason that he had ever wanted to join the Knights and the Death Eaters. Not only that, but it went against one of his favorite precepts of Slytherin house: don't make an enemy until it is necessary to do so, lest you find yourself lacking an ally when it is necessary to have one. With that principle in mind, he had crafted his plan to avoid having to lead the operation to avoid making himself unnecessary enemies in the house.

'I really owe Mary for 'accidentally' incendioing my Transfiguration paper as I was about to turn it in; that way, I have an iron-clad excuse to be too busy to plan while I am redoing it.' He then smirked slightly, partially because looking afraid would be bad for his little act, but also because, 'I could have declined and told them that I dislike the idea of attacking people like that just because they are either Muggleborn or don't mind that other people are, but that would have been just so...Gryffindorish.'

His thoughts then went toward Mary and what he had agreed to in order to get her assistance, which had to be both obvious and painful for Gryffindor, not something that Mary had a particular problem with considering how they had turned their backs on her.

_Flashback:_

_Mary put her finger to her lips as Severus finished explaining the plan and what help he would need from her so that he would be unable to perform his duties as the leader of the operation. Finally, he wound down and said calmly, "...So Mary, what price would you like me to pay in return for this? I mean, it is going to hurt your house, and you might dislike that..."_

_She kept silent for nearly a minute, before an evil grin spread across her face, and she said, "Well Sev, since the price is so expensive, I would require something of equal value to me in return. I want you, alone, to take me to Hogsmeade this Valentine's Day on a date, Lily or no Lily."_

_Severus started and blushed, before saying quietly, "I just don't know..." As he tried to say something, Mary leaned over very close to him, then said with her face less than five inches from his, causing his brain to become rather fogged up, "Its just one date. Besides, Lily is dating James, so why not try dating someone else while you wait for her? Also, its either take me on a date, or get hated by either Lily or those Knight people, whichever one you choose to disappoint."_

_Severus thought it over before finally agreeing, sighing as he said, "Very well then, I will take you on a date come Hogsmeade weekend."_

_As he did so, Mary's grin spread all over her face, then she said brightly, "Just so you know Sev, if you hadn't asked me for a price, I would have done it for free; after all, I would get the chance to help a friend, and stick it to those so-called friends I used to have."_

_Severus frowned deeply, "Friends you used to have...?"_

_Mary's grin vanished completely, then she, after twiddling her thumbs a moment, said sadly, "Yeah, now that everyone knows about what I did to Black because of what he did to Sabrina, I have become an outcast for hurting 'Mighty Gryffindor!'. Even Sabrina has joined in with them; she yelled at me in private about how 'Thanks to what you did, my humiliation, rather than being private, was shouted all over the school! How could your!?'."_

_At that, Severus felt awful, and pulled his friend into a small hug, then said quietly, trying to say something that would help, as he looked into her eyes, "Mary, if she wants to blame you for James and Sirius' broadcasting of your reasoning all over the school, then you are well shot of her..." He looked at Mary and saw that she didn't seem to be feeling better, but he continued anyway, "...Besides, if all of Gryffindor house wanted to abandon you for bringing justice to one of those...ahem, then that just means that me and Lily will have to be good enough friends to make up for all of Gryffindor being prats."_

_Mary gave him a watery smile, then said, "Thanks, Sev..."_

_End Flashback:_

Severus sighed; he couldn't deny that he was certainly interested in Mary, and part of him definitely wanted to go on this date with her, but he would feel awful if he went with her, only to have Lily confess her love or something, and leave him unable to respond to her. Although Mary had said that it was only one date, he knew that 'just one date' sometimes led to another, and another, until you found yourself falling for and marrying that person who you had only intended to go on one date with.

Glaring around the common room, Severus decided to go to bed, and muttered to himself, "This has gone on for far too long..."

* * *

**_The Next Day Tuesday January 29th, 1975_**

James was walking back to Gryffindor, when he heard Mary and Snivellus talking about something that sounded more than a tad interesting. Wanting to get a better spot to hear them from, he ducked into a secret passage that led to a torch just behind where they were talking, giving him a clear reception to their discussion, while he cursed how the plans of those two had led to his Invisibility Cloak being taken away from him.

"...As I was saying Sev, You're going to make sure that you are busy with me today, so it is 'obvious' that you weren't involved in the operation today. Otherwise, it could look bad for you and me if McGonagall got involved, for lately she seems to have been looking at me like... well like I have some kind of mold growing all over me."

'Oh great, she calls him 'Sev' now. YUCK!'

As James went a little ill at the thought, Snivellus laughed and said, "I think I know the look; does she have this cold glare that she seems to have saved for only you? And does she turn up her nose and 'hmmph!' sometimes?"

James heard Mary emitting a giggle, before she responded, "Yup! That's the one!"

Snivellus then said with a chuckle, "Well, congratulations Mary Macdonald, you have officially become an honorary Slytherin! Every single one of my housemates has that same look devoted to them; this is the first time I have ever seen it applied to one of her 'lion cubs'! You really ought to be proud!"

James snorted slightly at the idea that anyone would want to be a Slytherin and a traitor to Gryffindor, but, after a short pause, lasting no more than ten seconds, Mary said, "Aw, thanks Sev! I don't think that the Slytherins would care for me to join them much. I mean, don't you think that they would be a TAD apprehensive of having me get involved in plans that, like it seems all of theirs do, revolves around the torment of 'Mudbloods and Blood Traitors'? I seriously doubt that they would have wanted me involved in the one today at four o'clock; I mean, I doubt that they would be stupid enough to expect me to go blasting an entire Herbology class of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years because they have the same sort of ancestry that I do..."

As the two of them walked away, James thought furiously to himself. 'So much for 'he's really alot like you James, brave, loyal to his friends, witty...' HA! Now I finally have proof that he is no better than the rest of those bloody Slytherins!' He then thought of Mary and sighed. 'I am sorry that I wasn't able to save her, but she has joined the dark side, the Slytherin side. Still, even though she has fallen, its not too late to save my beloved Lily from the evils of Snivellus Snape!'

He immediately dashed off to talk to Professor McGonagall, hoping that at least she could help protect the first ears from Snivellus' evil plans. 'And then I will go tell Lily and she will hopefully finally realize just how much Old Snivelly has been playing her! With this kind of evidence, maybe I can finally reveal to her exactly what that greasy git is like, and it will even be in time for the Hogsmeade trip!'

He grinned as he poured on the speed, sure that even though it was half past three, he still had plenty of time to let a teacher know about, and hopefully put a stop to, Old Snivelly's little 'operation'...

* * *

"NO MARY! Put the mugwort in AFTER you stir twenty times! Not WHILE you stir twenty times!"

"Aw bug off! I saw Lily doing it this way, and it ended up better than the book!"

"NOOOO...!"

-BOOM-

'Hmm, apparently Sev MIGHT have been correct about that.' Although angry at herself for bungling a simple potion, Mary couldn't suppress a giggle when she saw that the golden potion had landed mostly in Severus' hair, causing him to suddenly be sporting a shiny blond. Lily would have come, but Mary had asked if she might have some alone time with Severus; although she had no intention of taking him away as a friend from Lily, Mary wanted Severus' attention to be all but completely focused on her this week if possible. It would be tough enough to woo Severus without him being distracted by Lily's presence in the background after all. While she was thinking these things, she helped him clean up the room, which currently looked as if a small bomb had been dropped into it.

Severus, as they were finishing, looked towards the rack of complete potions and sighed, clearly exasperated; Mary followed his gaze and felt a prickling of guilt, as she saw that the blast had managed to damage or destroy about half of the potions that Severus and Lily had been working on. Opening her mouth, she started to apologize, when there was a sudden interruption, "Sorry Se..."

-BANG-

The door flew open, to reveal the current Head Boy, a Gryffindor named Frank Longbottom, who immediately said coldly, "I'm sorry, but I need to take you two to the Headmaster's office immediately; follow me."

Severus glanced at Mary, who shrugged, thinking to herself, 'I should have known he would have roped us into this...'

After saying "Licorice Wand", the trio walked into Dumbledore's office, where four figures already stood: Dumbledore, Professors McGonagall and Slughorn, and James Potter, the latter of which had a smirk on his face that Mary would certainly have enjoyed wiping off. As soon as they came into the room, Dumbledore, with his usual twinkle in his eye, said, "Please, take a seat." After they had done so, he continued, "It has come to my attention that you two had planned a small prank which was to take place today."

Severus appeared surprised, but schooled his expression into one of polite shock, then said, "Not to our knowledge sir; neither Mary nor I have planned any pranks for today."

Potter said, incensed, "That is a bald-faced lie! I heard you and Mary plotting earlier today by the third floor corridor!"

Mary cut in smoothly, "Ah, but did you hear us say anything about our being in charge, hmm?"

Professor McGonagall then cut in, an expression of distaste on her face, "Be that as it may, you two clearly had intimate knowledge of the situation as it was and did nothing; am I mistaken?"

Severus was about to respond, but Mary put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head slightly when he looked at her questioningly. Mary then said calmly, "What I have to say should be spoken of in private." She glanced meaningfully at Potter and Longbottom, causing both of them and McGonagall to raise their eyebrows questioningly.

Nonetheless, Dumbledore followed her gaze and said kindly, "Mr. Potter. Mr. Longbottom. Would you mind giving Mary, Severus, and myself a few moments to speak of this alone?"

Although Potter looked like he was about to argue, Longbottom gave them all a look of appraisal before putting his hand on Potter's arm and leading him out. Severus looked at her questioningly, but Mary then continued, "It is true that we had intimate knowledge of the situation Professors, but to say that Severus and I did nothing is wrong. You see, I heard Potter hiding in that secret passage behind the torch, so I allowed him to hear us 'plotting'."

McGonagall's eyebrows threatened to invade her hair, then she said cooly, "And why wouldn't you have done this yourself, Miss Macdonald? It is obvious that Mr. Snape might have run into some intra-house problems, but there was no reason that you couldn't have taken care of it yourself."

At that, Mary chuckled, before saying, "Professor, Professor, Professor. If I had been the one to blab, it would have likely been traced directly to Sev here; I might have done it, but when I heard Potter standing so close by, I knew that it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. After all, everyone knows how much I loathe Potter and his merry band of toerags almost as much as Sev does; no-one would ever suspect Sev or I of telling him about it, thus our tracks were well covered."

Professor McGonagall looked at her like she had just gotten sick all over her robes, then said disgustedly, "So instead of making sure the problem was dealt with, you 'passed the buck' over to Mr. Potter, making it so that any fallout from informing us would fall squarely upon his head if he had told, and gambled with the safety of every single first-year Gryffindor?"

At this Professor Slughorn said with a chuckle, "Now Minerva, weren't you listening? She just said that it would be politically inappropriate to do anything herself, so she made use of the unwitting Mr. Potter to have the situation cleared up. In my opinion, it was a very clever maneuver on her part."

Severus then cut in himself, saying with an unreadable expression on his face, "While I didn't know about Mary's plan ahead of time, it certainly seems to have worked like a charm. Potter is clearly the type to try to get as much attention as he possibly can, so he would have been happy to let a professor know. Besides, from what I have heard, Mary has been ostracized by all of Gryffindor house, from seventh-year on down, with few exceptions. Why should she have to risk her own neck for people who have decided to become her enemies?"

Professor McGonagall then said, incensed, "Mr. Snape, while it may be different in your own house, in Gryffindor house, just because we may dislike someone, that doesn't mean that we won't help them. What has happened to Mary is unfortunate, but understandable, and it certainly doesn't mean that they have decided to become her enemies!"

Mary, angered at her own Head of House's excusing her students, said coldly, "They may not have decided to make themselves my enemies, but I am certainly happy to make them mine. While I wouldn't have been happy if Severus HAD elected to join his fellow Slytherins in the prank that we are speaking of, that wouldn't have been because of the Gryffindors involved, but the undeserving Hufflepuffs. In all honesty ma'am, if it had been just the Gryffindors, I wouldn't have alerted Potter at all; that way, two problems would have been dealt with instead of just one. The Slytherins who performed the prank would have been punished, and those first-year Gryffindors would have gotten what they deserved. It would have been win-win."

Professor McGonagall appeared on the verge of exploding, then she said stiffly, "Albus, could I have a moment alone with you?"

Dumbledore, who had been watching the whole proceedings carefully, nodded, after scrutinizing Severus and Mary one more time, and Mary, Severus and Professor Slughorn all left the office without a word. Once they reached the base of the staircase however, Professor Slughorn said calmly, with a shrewd expression on his face, "Five points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin."

At their expressions of disbelief, he chuckled and said, "Now, now. Don't be angry; I doubt that you particularly care about what happens to Gryffindor Miss Macdonald, and Mr. Snape, it would be politically impractical in our house for you to be seen leaving the Headmaster's office without punishment."

The two teens looked at each other, then shrugged. 'I suppose he does have a point...'

* * *

**_Four Days Later Saturday February 2nd, 1975_**

Lily had been on edge the past four days; everyone in Gryffindor house had been angry at her for how she kept trying to defend Mary, who would have become even more of a target if she hadn't been removed from Gryffindor on either a temporary or permenant basis, and Severus, who had, according to rumor, confessed to being the ringleader of the attack on the first-years as well as the next Dark Lord. While Lily seriously doubted that the rumors were true, she wanted to hear Severus' side of the story, just in case they were and she was making a fool of herself.

'Ugh, what's taking him so long!?' He was already fifteen minutes late, and because he had been the one who had asked to spend all this weekend with her, she was getting more than a little perturbed and worried. Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened with a bang, and Severus marched in with a deep scowl on his face. Lily, noticing a number of grass stains on his clothes, said anxiously as she dashed over next to him to get a closer look,

"Sev, what happened to you? Are you OK?"

His scowl seemed to lighten, but then he said with a dark gleam in his eyes, "You know how Potter and his Marauders had stopped hexing me? Well, apparently, Black and Pettigrew decided that the cease-fire was now null and void. I just got done with a nice, quiet visit to the bloody hospital wing!"

He started grabbing ingrediant and throwing them violently into his cauldron, although he had obviously made sure that he was adding them correctly, while Lily thought to herself about the revelation that Severus had just given her. 'Great, just great. Not only has Mary apparently been chased out of Gryffindor, but Black's attacks are making it more and more likely that Sev will never, ever be able to even tolerate him and Potter.' She then, annoyed at Black, said,

"Well, that answers one question, and I must wonder how much Black would enjoy a trip to the hospital wing of his own, but I have something that I have been meaning to ask you. You see, everyone in Gryffindor house has been telling me all week about how you were the ringleader or something of this massive assault on the first-years, and I was wondering if I could get your side of the story..."

Severus looked at her with an unreadable expression, then asked quietly, "Do you believe them?"

Lily frowned, then said, "Not really, but I certainly wouldn't mind some more ammunition to defend you with..."

Severus seemed to think for a moment, then said softly, "Well, they are wrong about my being behind the 'assault', as you call it, but I did know about it ahead of time."

Lily looked at his face, which had a guilty expression on it, then asked quietly, "Why didn't you bring it to the attention of the Headmaster or the teachers?"

Severus then responded with an air of impatience, "Lily, please. How would it have looked if I had made an excuse about why I couldn't be involved, then the next day Dumbledore or whatever is there when the operation takes place? That would have brought all of Slytherin house down on my head. I might have been able to stop the operation, but my head would have rolled, metaphorically speaking, inside of twenty-four hours."

Lily reluctantly nodded, then said sadly, "I suppose that you have a point Sev, but, if you don't like what they are doing, then why are you still a Knight? I mean, if you know something is wrong, then sit there and do nothing, isn't it like you are condoning it? I mean, a wise muggle once said, 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing'."

Severus looked down, then said quietly, "I know that many of the Knights have done things that I am ashamed to know about, but, if I am going to join the Death Eaters, I will just have to put up with it until I am done here."

Lily then said, "OK Sev, but, is joining the Death Eaters really worth doing this? I will admit that I may have been wrong about the Death Eaters, but is joining them THAT important to you?"

Severus looked troubled, but didn't respond, and Lily hid a smile, happy that, even though he still didn't understand how awful the Death Eaters really were, he was starting to think it over a bit more. The two of them then brewed potions and worked on spells for the rest of the day, and Lily, to her great interest, found that Severus seemed to be peeking at her periodically with the same look he reserved for the toughest of potions, and the intenseness in his look was making her more than a little clumsy.

Finally, they were finished for the day, after having started a new spell from one of Lily's ideas from her time as an Auror in her past life, a spell which mimicked a Muggle Flash Grenade. At the least, it would be quite disruptive to any enemies, although it would be a very bad idea to use it if you had any friends in the vicinity. 'At the least, it should give him more ways to win a fight without relying on simple direct attacks...'

Suddenly though, Lily found Severus looking into her eyes from less than five feet from her. He seemed very nervous about something, and Lily found herself quite interested in whatever made her best friend so nervous, whatever it was. He finally said, stuttering, "Lily, I just wanted you to know, I l-love you, and not as just a f-friend."

Lily was in such shock that she couldn't even think about responding 'Sev l-loves me!? What the, what do I say!? He has really nice eyes though... Wait a minute! I have a boyfriend already, and he was, and will likely be my husband! Oh god, I was considering cheating on my husband!'

Suddenly, through Lily's shock and mental hysterics, she noticed that she was now alone in the room. Angrily, she then shouted, "SEVERUS SNAPE! YOU DON'T TELL A WOMAN YOU LOVE HER, THEN LEAVE HER LIKE THIS! NEXT TIME I SEE YOU, YOU ARE DEAD!"

She was about to go out and find him, making sure to keep her shouted promise, when a bright white light filled the room, and a mental voice she recognized 'said', 'I am sorry Miss Evans, but I think that we need to have a talk...'

**Author's Note: **Wow, I do think that I am truly evil; if I am not mistaken, I have left three cliffhangers in one chapter! Enjoy my latest chapter, its my longest one in this fic yet!

Oh, and here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:2

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):2

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:0

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

For those of you who asked Mary to be paired off with Mulciber, again, that is not a realistic option as, although I have no intention of giving Mary a particularly unhappy ending, romantically at least, it would be cruel for her to end up with someone who thinks that she is inferior because of who she was born from. As such, I must ask for those who asked for that pairing to pick again.


	17. To Destroy the World

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 17**

**To Destroy the World**

_Light to unleash destruction beyond imagining..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_A Place Beyond Time_**

Lily frowned as the light faded; she recognized the area she was in as the same blend between her house in Godric's Hollow and 'The Spot' as before, although it seemed that the wildlife seemed to be crawling into the house a tad. In addition, she noticed that she had returned to her adult form, and was in a set of red and silver robes. She then spoke aloud, so that she wouldn't be distracted from any mental communication, "I wonder why I have been brought back here again..."

'It is because of a number of reasons.'

She groaned slightly as she recognized the mental voice of the angel of fates. She then said angrily, "I'm sorry, but I was mildly busy. Having your best friend confess his love to you TENDS TO DO THAT! This had better be important, for I have some SERIOUS teenage angsting to get to!"

She thought she heard a mental chuckle as she looked around, and finally located the silver ball-form of the angel of fates floating its way over to her. It then said with a definite tone of amusement in its voice, 'As interesting as the contemplations of your love certainly are to you, I am afraid that we have a bit of a problem on our hands.'

Lily raised her eyebrow and said, startled but still a little annoyed, "A problem you say? Why I'd never think that you would have dragged me out here for tea!"

The voice then seemed to turn up the volume, making her brain suddenly hurt. 'Stop making light of this Miss Evans! This is very serious indeed!"

Lily glared at him through the pain, but then nodded reluctantly, before saying in a much calmer tone of voice, "OK, what is going on that is so bad?"

The silver ball seemed to think to itself for a moment, then 'said', 'Miss Evans, allow me to explain things a bit more fully than I did last time. That way, you will understand the gravity of your situation. You see, for each time-line I manage, I give it one of five ratings, understood?'

It seemed simple enough, so Lily nodded before waving at him to continue, which he did so quite obligingly, 'Now, these five ratings are, from best to worst, Golden Age, Bright, Benign, Malign, and Dark. They don't so much indicate how well the time-line is going, as the odds of the time-line entering an Apocalypse scenario. In an Apocalypse scenario, the time-line swiftly enters a state of total collapse, and I put an end to it to minimize the energy loss to me, understood?'

Lily sighed, rapidly growing bored, and said, "Would you please get to the point, I know that it is important, but its not particularly important for me to understand the whys and wherefores, is it?"

'Actually it is, because there is a risk that I did not mention in our previous meeting, mainly because it wouldn't matter until we reached this point. You see, your actions have led to a rather unusual rating for the time-line; officially, your time-line has entered Dark rating.'

Lily was about to interrupt, confused, but the being swiftly continued, 'As a point of comparison, in the base time-line, it was still at Benign level at this point in time. Normally, I would immediately extract you from this time-line so that you would not run the risk of being part of the Apocalypse scenario...'

Lily interrupted here, worried, "What would happen if I was part of an Apocalypse scenario?"

The angelic being then 'said' with a sigh, 'Being a part of an Apocalypse scenario means that you will be obliterated, mind, body, soul, spirit, whatever you humans call it, you will be gone, forever. If you ask why you weren't alerted to the danger, it is because for any time-line that enters a Dark rating, we usually extract the inserted being and let the time-line proceed to its likely conclusion, Apocalypse.'

Lily then chewed her lip, and said, a little confused, "Usually?"

'Yes, however your time-line is a special case. While the odds of undergoing an Apocalypse scenario have reached extremely high levels, what makes it interesting is the fact that, if it doesn't undergo Apocalypse, it is EXTREMELY likely to enter a Golden Age rating. In simple terms, your actions have made the time-line's results very, how do you say it? 'Swingy'. In any future which DOESN'T enter an Apocalypse scenario, it is almost certain to enter a rating of Golden Age, which means that, while the odds of the time-line undergoing Apocalypse are nearly 60%, if it doesn't, you will have likely saved the world for generations to come.'

The being then continued, 'You may allow yourself to be extracted now, likely causing its obliteration, or you may try to see it through to completion. It is most certainly up to you...'

Lily then gulped. "But no pressure right?"

The angel laughed heartily, then said, 'Honestly, it doesn't particularly matter to me as to your choice, but be warned that, at this point, the time-line has reached a level of volatility that will mean that any entering of an Apocalypse scenario will be swift and devastating, and you will most likely be obliterated in the process...'

Lily then said aloud, "Would you particularly mind it if I took a while to think to myself? If I am talking with you, then it would be hard for me to tell my thoughts from your communications."

The being seemed to think for a moment, then said, 'That will be fine. Merely call for the angel of fates, and I will appear before you.'

The silver, glowing ball then floated away into the blue sky, and Lily was left to her thoughts. 'Ugh, I know that it is the right thing to do to rejoin my time-line and reject the offer to extract me, but its one thing to risk death, and quite another to risk my existence being completely erased! Also, I still have to deal with Sev's little bomb...no, that won't matter if I don't decide to rejoin the time-line.'

She then spent nearly twenty minutes, or at least what felt like twenty minutes, arguing to herself mentally about this. Even her natural Gryffindor 'do the right thing' instincts seemed to be having a hard time making her want to say yes. 'Actually, now that I think about it, its not really fair to call those instincts "Gryffindor", is it? I mean, I seriously doubt that Severus would EVER want to be in Gryffindor house, but it appears that, in this time-line at least, his 'do the right thing' instincts are alive and kicking.'

Putting aside any thoughts of house competition for the moment, she then came to her conclusion. 'Argh! I would truly hate to be obliterated, and never see James, Harry or anyone ever again, even in the afterlife, but...' She took a deep breath, and then shouted,

"ANGEL OF FATES! I am ready to make my choice now!"

For a few minutes, it seemed like she hadn't been heard, but then she saw a familiar silvery orb floating down out of the cloudless sky. Finally reaching her, the angel seemed to be waiting for her decision, and she immediately granted its wish. "I have decided to reject extraction at this time; I am going to try to fix it, and stop Voldemort from destroying our world, even if its not really my own."

The angel seemed to glow slightly brighter, but then it 'said', 'Very well then Miss Evans; I am ready to return you to your time-line whenever you are ready, but I think that there is someone here that you might want to meet. You see...' At that point, Lily could detect a faint note of embarrassment in its 'voice', '...You were not the only one of your companions in your previous life to be chosen for this duty. You see, you and each of these companions were what I call a "Nexus".'

Lily looked straight at it in confusion, then waited for it to continue, 'A Nexus refers to a person whose choices are capable of making a profound difference in the fate of a time-line, for good or ill. Part of the reason that I chose so many of your companions, was because each of these companions was a Nexus, and thus could either help or hurt the future time-line significantly through their choices. Now then, I believe that one of them has made it back from his attempt...'

Suddenly, to Lily's surprise and delight, James seemed to suddenly appear adjacent to her, dressed in red and gold robes. She hesitantly asked, unsure if she could be that lucky, "Um, are you 'my' James?" Remembering her auror training, she quickly asked, "Why did we name our son Harry?"

James smoothly replied, "Because it was the same name as both of his late grandfathers, and you didn't want to miss the opportunity to have something to remember them by."

Lily grinned wildly, then started peppering him with kisses all over, before the angelic being mentally coughed and 'said', 'Um, as interested in that exercise as I am sure you are, I cannot keep you in this realm for more than a few more minutes Miss Evans, so I suggest that you make it quick and important.'

Lily sighed, then said remorsefully, "Fine..." She then turned her head back to her...husband? After a moment of thought, she said, "So James, how have you been doing in your little reality?"

James looked at her miserably, then said sadly, "I am afraid that it didn't go so well. I made some choices that I can't say that I am proud of, but I felt that it would improve that world's future. Unfortunately, they backfired significantly, as I apparently forgot some law about butterflies or something."

Lily looked at him, then asked quietly, "How bad was it?"

James seemed to be on the verge of tears, then said, "I apparently managed to cause the destruction of the entire time-line single-handily, not one of my better points for my resume, eh?"

Lily chuckled for a moment at his joke, but then felt awful, as she realized just how she would have felt if it had been her to do that. 'And it is likely that I will do it too. Given the luck of my family, its probable that I will end up destroying the time-line completely as well...'

James then continued, finally bursting into tears, which caused Lily to cradle him gently in her arms, "I-it was a-awful! You h-hated me! I never want to see that look on your face again a long as I live, OK?"

Lily said solemnly, "I promise..."

James, clearly wanting to get his mind off of that topic, then asked, "So Lily, how is it going with your time-line? When did you end up?"

Lily, wanting to bring some respite to James' tortured thoughts, then said, "Well, I ended up in our fourth year again; I decided to go for a threefold plan from the beginning: keep Severus as my friend and stop him from joining Voldemort, marry you, and try to do something about Peter's bravery, although I had kinda forgotten the last part until I mentioned it just now. So far, part one and two are going just peachy, but its starting to get to be a bit of a problem, for you see, unlike you, the James in my time-line never grew up, so its really hard to keep him from trying to kill Sev, although I think that I might have gotten him to at least stop doing it himself. His mates show no real signs of stopping, and I don't think that they will until 'you' finally grow up again."

James looked extremely guilty, then looked away, before saying, "Lily...I didn't grow up as much as you thought until shortly before we got married. You see, I never really stopped hexing him until my mates and I left Hogwarts; it wasn't until much later that I realized just how badly I had screwed things up for you and him. Sometimes I really wonder, if I hadn't spent all that time attacking, and let's face it, bullying him, would he have ever joined the Death Eaters in the first place? I mean, I humiliated the guy to the point that he lashed out at his best friend, and destroyed something the two of you valued more than anything in the world, and do you know what the worst part is?"

Lily looked at him, both crying now in regret and remorse, each for their own sins in that particular story, then whispered, "What?"

James then looked straight down and laughed bitterly, "The day after, I found out, and I laughed. I was thrilled because it felt like my wildest dreams had come true, and you had finally given up on the 'Greasy Git'. I was wildly happy for the destruction of one of things that you had cared for the most in the world, and thrilled because I had finally gotten you to give up on your oldest, dearest friends. Honestly, that had to be the second-worst moment in my entire life, when I had finally understood what I had helped to cause."

Lily was about to ask what had been the worst moment in James' entire life then, if that had only been his second-worst one, when suddenly she heard the voice of the angel 'speaking', 'I am afraid that we will have to end our visit, unless you want to extricate yourself from the time-line that you had been chosen for.'

Lily nodded, then thought of something and asked hesitantly, "If its not impertinant, could you please tell me who I know who has gotten this chance, like James and I have?"

After a few moments, the angel replied, 'So far, I have selected Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Severus Snape for assistance, which they are currently providing to the best of their abilities. Now then, it is time for you to go...'

The bright, white light flared around her again, blinding everything from view, and then...

**Author's Note: **Yet another cliffie! I do hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Because of all of your reviews, I just couldn't stop myself from writing this chapter as fast as I could!

In case some of you are wondering, James found out about Severus' switching sides before his death, but didn't tell Lily for fear that she would endanger herself with her desire to see him. After that, he finally realized just how much Severus must have loved and cared for Lily, given that he had given up everything that he had apparently ever wanted since he was in his early teens, just so that he could keep her safe. It was one of the worst moments in his life, realizing just how he had trampled over something so pure and true, just because of his own prejudices.

Some of you may be wondering what has happened so far in the time-lines that James and the others went to, so I have decided to give a brief summary here:

James returned to when he was fourteen, just a month or so before the werewolf incident, and debated with himself immensely, for he had a rather significant lack of understanding just how much small events could affect the time-line. Although he knew it was wrong, he decided to do the best that he could to insure that the time-line would be almost identical to the previous one, but with a few changes to improve it. He knew that Severus would eventually reveal the prophecy to Lord Voldemort if James kept events as close as he could to the original time-line, so he altered the prank at the Shrieking Shack slightly. It went the same as last time, but this time, he waited an extra few minutes before coming to Severus' aid, causing him to die. After erasing the memory of the prank from the minds of Pettigrew and Sirius, he modified the memory of Severus' only living relative, Tobias, to think that Severus had transfered to Durmstrang and was staying over there every summer, on a free scholarship. He then had him send Dumbledore alerting him to the fact.

What James didn't count on was Lily's unwillingness to give up on the search for Severus, and eventually he felt so guilty about it, that he told her what he had done and why. Needless to say, calling her furious was the understatement of the century. (If someone came from the future, killed your best friend, then said that it was because of what he MIGHT have done, how would you feel? Especially because he then lied about it and dated you...) In the end, once the rest of the side of the Light found out, it caused a significant exodus from the Order of the Phoenix, and the prophecy never took place because Frank Longbottom died thanks to the Death Eater outnumbering him by far too much at a critical junction, preventing Neville's existence, and there was no way on earth that Lily would ever let James in the same room as her without aiming a few-dozen hexes at him. Needless to say, James' rapid failure led to him being extricated far before most of this happened.

In contrast, Sirius was sent back in time to the night BEFORE Voldemort attacked the Potters. Knowing what the exact day and hour that he was going to attack, Sirus told Dumbledore, who had about half of the Order of the Phoenix there waiting for Voldemort when he went to murder the Potters. While the Dark Lord may be tough, that was one rat who was in a very, very thoroughly built cage, and he died swiftly under the magical equivalent of being under a really, REALLY big hammer. So far, the time-line looks fairly good, and has moved into the Bright rating...

Remus, although he thought that Severus had betrayed them all when he had murdered Dumbledore, still regretted how he had failed to control the Marauders in Hogwarts most of all. When he was sent back in time all the way to his first year, he tried to keep the Marauders from bullying Severus at every turn, leading to him being effectively removed from the group, but, to his surprise, he was quickly befriended by Severus and Lily, mainly because Severus really appreciated how he had tried to defend him so much, and Lily for similar reasons. Unfortunately, it appears that the Marauders, without Remus moderating them at all, became even worse than in canon. Nonetheless, the time-line appears fairly stable, and it has been put under a Bright rating as well...

In Severus' time-line, he was brought back to just after he revealed the prophecy to Voldemort. Unfortunately, while Severus could alert Dumbledore and the Order of the Pheonix to the existence of all five of the Horcruxes that Voldemort had made as of that time, he couldn't tell them about the one he didn't know (Ravenclaw's Diadem), and, even if they HAD all been destroyed, it still would mean nothing unless Voldemort was killed. Nonetheless, he tries his best, first begging Voldemort for Lily AND James' lives (He had realized that Dumbledore was right, and if he truly loved Lily, he would try to save her husband if it made her happy), then he went to Dumbledore like in the original time-line, and alerted him as to Voldemort's attack on the Potters, and the locations of all four of the Horcruxes which he had known of, as well as good guesses on the others.

In a massive case of true irony, by requesting that James be spared as well, he managed to save Lily, for, as he had been given the chance to live and refused it (having his wand in hand this time by sheer luck), James was able to cast the blood charm on Harry, causing Voldemort to die before he could try to kill Lily. So far, this time-line has entered a rating of Golden Age...

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:7

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):5

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:0

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0


	18. The Price of Gryffindor

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 18**

**The Price of Gryffindor**

_The third choice..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Saturday February 16th, 1975_**

As the light faded, Lily found herself lying on her back in what appeared to be a hospital bed; looking around, she saw that Severus, Mary and James were all there. Each of them looked exhausted and like they hadn't really paid any more attention to their hygiene than the basics to avoid their odors being lethal weapons; Severus and Mary were both sitting in chairs on the left of her bed, with James sitting on a bed on her right. All three perked up immediately as Lily sat up and said, "Ugh...How long was I out for?"

Severus immediately responded, looking extremely relieved, although he seemed wary at James' presence, "Lily, you have been out for nearly two weeks..."

James leaned over and whispered, "I tried to get them thrown out of the hospital wing; I mean, he was the last person seen with you, but no-one listened to me, because I had no proof."

Lily glared at him, annoyed, then said equally quietly, "Trust me on this James: Sev had absolutely nothing to do with me being out cold or whatever for...two weeks was it?"

Meanwhile, Lily had a pounding headache from all the information she had heard in, what seemed to her, the last twenty-four hours; what she really wanted to do was get out of the hospital wing as quickly as she could and into a bath, and then carefully analyze every scrap of information she had learned, but she didn't want any of her friends to worry, and it didn't seem that it would be a good idea to suddenly take off without providing a few explanations, even if she couldn't tell them exactly why she had been out. 'Ugh, this will take some very careful explaining indeed...'

In the end, Lily managed to answer all of their questions, lying by claiming that her unconscious state was solely because of a spell she had been trying to cast, which backfired thanks to her being more than a little frazzled (At that point she gave Severus the a mock-glare, causing him to blush), sending her straight into a state of, apparently, unconsciousness for two weeks straight. Immediately afterward, she seized her chance, and said, "Now then, if you will excuse me, I haven't had a bath myself in more than two weeks, and I have a splitting headache, so marshall more questions all you want, but I need some me-time."

Mary started to giggle uncontrollably, and Lily grimaced as she remembered their own private code for that particular phrase, but nonetheless, all three left, after making absolutely sure that was what she wanted, to which she replied, forcing a laugh, "Oh wait, I want all of you in there to help me bathe, please excuse my mistake!"

As soon as Lily could, she made good on her word, and then, after relaxing in the bath for the hospital room for a couple minutes, which was usually used for students who were, like her, unconscious for more than a day or two as well as Madam Pomfrey's personal use, Lily started to go over what she had learned one piece at a time. 'OK, first and foremost, somehow, my actions have increased this time-line's chances of basically exploding several-fold, but why? I mean, from what I have seen so far, with only a couple of exceptions, this time-line is going far better than it was the last time around; Severus seems to be really waffling on the Death Eaters, and James, even though he clearly doesn't want to, has stopped bullying Sev, although he hasn't stopped his friends from doing so as much as I hoped."

She thought to herself, but couldn't think of anything 'big picture' that was particularly worse than before, with the exception of what was going on with Mary and the rest of Gryffindor, although it really wasn't too different from what had happened in seventh-year. As such, she decided to look at each person that she knew a bit more individually. 'OK, while, given the fact that Sev is in love with me, I can certainly see why he would have an extremely great excuse to get massively jealous of James, he really hasn't so far, which honestly surprises me...' Lily decided to think about that particular point more when she got to the 'Severus in love with me' part. 'Also, it seems that he is, at the same time, trying to find ways to get out of Knights' business, and seems to be a little unsure about his prior theory about the Death Eaters. I can't see any massive destruction coming directly from him at this point...'

Lily then moved over to James in her evaluations, 'Let's see, compared to the previous time-line, James is doing far better at this point than last time, considering that, unless I decide to try dating Severus...' She stopped that train of thought there, for she had bigger problems at the moment than her love-life. 'Anyway, he could cause some serious damage I suppose if one of his pranks goes massively awry, but he has stopped that, even if it was only because he HAD to, so I guess it is probably someone else.'

Her lip curled as she moved to Sirius; even in her past life, while she had become capable of tolerating him, and even getting along with him, she had never really liked him nearly as much as she had like James, for it seemed that he had never really grown up at all, unlike James. 'Although, as it turns out, James never really did grow up as much at I thought...' Forcing that particular train of thought away for later, she considered what had happened with Sirius. 'Now there is a LOT of room for trouble there; compared to the last time-line, he seems to think that Severus corrupted Mary or something in addition to her base dislike, and, even though it wasn't Sev's fault for the second one, he was HUMILIATED twice in a matter of weeks because of Sev's actions or the actions of his friends. Not only that, but Sirius has always shown signs of recklessness and thoughtlessness to absurd levels. Case in point, the werewolf incident; with Sirius having been humiliated so badly, and his tendencies, Sirius is quite frankly a loose cannon, capable of massive damage if not watched...'

'And then there is Mary. Frankly, the situation between her and her house is worse than before, although not by THAT much; they didn't really like it when she took the Valentine's Day float of Sirius Black's, and set it on fire before ramming him with it, while he was sitting at the table in the Great Hall. We had to send a first-year to the hospital wing for burns...' Returning her thoughts to the present, Lily found herself to be very concerned indeed about Mary's situation.

'Quite frankly, the situation between Mary and the rest of Gryffindor has escalated to a very dangerous level; last time around everyone had NEWT's to study for, but this time, we have a full three years until the end of our time at Hogwarts...Still, although that is bad, I doubt it would have a direct effect on the time-line, as Mary doesn't have the firepower to fight against all of Gryffindor, and its not like it would drive Sev towards the Death Eaters even if she was, but then why does it seem like something is different, and I am missing something?'

Lily frowned deeply as she got up from her bath and, as it was dark, prepared to go up to Gryffindor tower and get to bed; unfortunately she hadn't been able to get to the other topics this time around, but she had some very pressing concerns indeed...

* * *

**_The Next Day Sunday February 17th, 1975_**

Mary wanted to scream; ever since the events of a couple of weeks ago, as Lily had been out cold, all of Gryffindor had been hammering her, especially after, when a sixth-year said that Gryffindor would 'forgive her' if she gave up on her friendship with Severus, Mary had laughed and used _depulso _on the person asking, sending them crashing into a wall, with a sharp point conveniently placed to impale her arm straight through, nearly ripping it off. 'Served her right! How DARE she ask me to give up on someone I love!? Especially for their sorry rears!'

Unfortunately, between Lily's stay in the hospital wing, and the attempts by all of Gryffindor to drive her mad, she hadn't been able to really make any progress on the Severus front; neither of them felt like going on a date when their best friend was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. 'And now this possible 're-sorting' thing! If they are trying to make me go nuts, they are certainly doing a great job!'

After the events in the Headmaster's office, Professor McGonagall had been on the warpath, and had tried to get Mary removed from Gryffindor house and 'into a house that better fits her morals...or lack thereof!'. In the end, Dumbledore had temporarized, and allowed Mary to decide whether she wanted to redo the sorting or stay in Gryffindor and, although she had until the end of term to decide, Mary was in a bit of a quandrary. She knew that, in all likelihood, despite Professor McGonagall's insulting way of putting it, she would most likely be sorted into Slytherin this time around, and that meant that she would be in trouble. After all, she was a 'mudblood', and a former Gryffindor, so she would likely run into similar, if a bit less, problems in Slytherin house as well. 'Ugh, either way, I think that I am screwed...'

Trying not to let herself get down, like she had the last twenty-ish times that she had tried to come up with a solution, Mary continued to think, 'OK, as is, there is no realistic way to improve my position in Gryffindor house; I couldn't have done a better job of making them all hate me if I tried after all, but maybe there is some way that I can improve my position in Slytherin house...' She thought about that possibility for several minutes on end, but the problem was that she would have to undo four-ish years of house rivalry, even if she hadn't been a major contributor to it. Frankly, between that, and her blood status, it wouldn't likely be until graduation that she could really make friends or even reach a neutral position with the majority of Slytherin.

'OK, the only way to change my status in Slytherin, would be to do...SOMETHING that would make them like me a lot. Ideally, I would like it if I could get a cease-fire with the Knights or something like that, but I would have to offer them something EXTREMELY valuable considering even humiliating the Marauders wasn't enough to prevent the Death Eaters from revoking the cease-fire.'

Then it came to her in an epiphany. 'Wait a minute, I DO have something that I can offer them! Ha-HA! I'll have to get in contact with a Knight immediately, preferably one other than Severus, as I doubt he would have much influence after the operation's failure... Maybe Mulciber? He might enjoy bullying nearly as much as the Marauders used to...' She did have to give them credit for stopping, with the exceptions of Severus and herself. '...but he has kept that little treaty even though it was vetoed because it would have been dishonorable not to. Yeah, I'll go with Mulciber.'

She grinned as she practically skipped down the stairs to the Slytherin dungeons, wand at the ready this time; she certainly didn't want a repeat of the October incident...

* * *

Severus groaned quietly, but tried to conceal his nervousness from his housemates; he truly hated it, but, after carefully analyzing what he had been hearing from his fellow Knights and the Death Eaters he knew, it seemed very likely that Lily was right about their pureblood prejudices. Although he had always known about those of the Knights, he had hoped that the higher-ups might have a different approach, but then he had gone over the names of the Death Eaters that were known to him, and then he had subtly asked the sons and daughters of them who were in Hogwarts what the opinions of their parents were.

'To say that the results were not encouraging would be a tremendous understatement... It seemed like every single one of them was anti-Muggleborn. The question is, what do I do now? I could leave flat out, just like Lily had been encouraging ever since I had joined, but that could cost me my friends, or I could stay in until graduation, then simply not join them. Regardless, if all of the Death Eaters are going to be against my friends, then maybe joining them wouldn't be worth it after all, even if they are trying to change the world for the better...'

He didn't really want to give up on it, for he knew that, by joining the Death Eaters, he could make something of himself and change the world, but if they hated Muggleborns as much as they seemed to, would it be a world that Severus would want to make? Frankly, he just couldn't imagine living in a world where Mary or Lily were treated like Potter should be. 'OK, unless something comes up, I think that I will try to leave after term ends; that way, my friends should have all summer to get used to the idea that I have quit...'

Severus felt better about the other thing he had been concerned about, where he was with Lily and Mary. When he had agreed to go out on a date with her, it had gotten him thinking about what he wanted; although he could honestly say that he had been in love with Lily for so long that it was hard for him to imagine a time when he HADN'T been in love with her, he had to admit that he was starting to fall hard for Mary as well. 'I know that it wasn't the best time to confess to Lily; hell, I was hoping to wait until I saw some sign that she might be interested in me and wasn't dating anyone else, but I wanted to be fair to both of them.'

The way Severus figured it was, if he told Lily and she didn't want to date him just then, that way he could devote his entire focus to his relationship with Mary and not wonder about any what-ifs. 'It was hard to tell her I have to admit; for a moment there, I thought that I would just be completely unable to do it. Still, whichever way she responds, I will be able to forge my path without difficulty.'

He hoped that Lily would respond positively, but if not, then maybe, just maybe, he could fall for Mary without regrets. 'Speaking of Mary, I wonder what she plans to do with respect to the possible re-sorting that I heard some of the students mentioning. Maybe she will join me in Slytherin house!'

* * *

**_Four Days Later Thursday February 21st, 1975_**

Selene Malfoy was enjoying one of her secret vices: reading Muggle literature. Admittedly, they were frequently idiotic in their strange beliefs about magic, witchcraft and wizardry, but it was certainly good for a laugh. Of course, there was no way she would ever let anyone in her house know about her secret passion for 'Pride and Prejudice', lest she become an instant outcast; hell, she couldn't even tell her boyfriend about it, but Selene figured that all women kept at least a few secrets, so why couldn't her's be reading trashy literature?

'Speaking of boyfriends...' Selene chuckled a little as she remembered how she and Arcturus had gotten together; she had been rather in the dumps after Severus had rejected her as if he were scared of her in Hogsmeade. Of course, she had been doing it only because her beloved cousin Lucius had been worried about his 'Pathetic Pile of Mudblood' friends, but being rejected like that had certainly been one of the low points in her life, especially when she had found out that, no more than an hour or two after she had asked, Severus Snape had asked one Mary Macdonald to the dance, even though they had both claimed it was just as friends.

After hearing that, Selene had walked around the streets of Hogsmeade for nearly an hour, aimlessly, because of how humiliated she had been thanks to her fellow Slytherins, who had all been forced to let her ask Severus first thanks to her cousin and were now happy for the chance to mock her. All of a sudden, Arcturus Mulciber, who, according to him, had been following her for the last three hours, had finally gotten up the courage to do something he had been meaning to do all day, ask her out.

While normally she probably wouldn't have bothered, as Arcturus was far from the top of the totem pole in Slytherin, that day he was one of the three heroes of Slytherin, while she was the girl who had just been humiliated by someone who would prefer Mudbloods to her, and Arcturus still wanted to date her. 'Now that I think about it, it has been two months since our first date or thereabouts, hasn't it? And, despite the fiasco back in January, we are still going strong...'

Suddenly, she heard something that she found nearly as strange as her own filthy habit, the sound of her boyfriend singing, BADLY. 'Selene, the first thing we are going to do after we find out why he is singing, will be to make sure he never sings again.' Using a nonverbal charm to make her book appear to be a DADA textbook, at least on the cover, she then asked, nonchalantly,

"So Arcturus, what has you so happy today?"

Grinning, he sat down on the couch beside her, and gave her a fast kiss on the lips, which, like most of his kisses, made her flush an uncomfortably deep red, especially considering her skin's pale coloring, but she certainly enjoyed them. 'I don't know where he got the practice, but he is a really good kisser...'

While she was debating her boyfriend's kissing ability, said boyfriend pulled out a roll of parchment and passed it to her with a broad smile on his face, then said, "Read it my lady; I was hoping that my dearest girlfriend might be willing to send it to her cousin Lucius for me, and persuade him to accept it."

Deciding to read it before responding, Selene carefully perused the document, with eyebrows rising higher with every sentence, before saying, shocked, "Arcturus Mulciber! Have you even read this!? What Mary wants from us is insane! Lucius would have my head if I asked him for this, cousin or no! I mean, just to get him to even consider accepting this, she would have to pull something as big as what she did back in December with the bloody Marauders!"

Arcturus, rather than getting angry or annoyed, merely said while pulling her deeper into his arms, "What if I said that Mary Macdonald was going to give us something bigger than that?"

Selene, deciding that her boyfriend had to be going mad, pushed him away and shouted, "ARCTURUS! What the bloody hell could that Hufflepuff Mudblood give us that would bigger than the incident that humbled those BLOODY MARAUDERS!?"

"Gryffindor..."

Selene, annoyed, said, "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, whatever! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HOUSE SHE IS IN!"

Arcturus' smile grew wider still and quite malicious indeed, then he leaned in and whispered in Selene's ear, tickling it with his breath, "No Selene...She is going to give us all of Gryffindor, on a bloody, silver platter..."

Selene was shocked, then, after thinking a moment, grew a matching evil grin. 'Now THAT, I can work with...'

**Author's Note: **Duh duh duh duh! I wonder how many of you saw that series of events coming! I love evil cliffies, I must say!

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:9

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):5

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:0

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0


	19. On Winds of Fury

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 19**

**On Winds of Fury**

_A plague upon your house... _

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Two Days Later Saturday February 23rd, 1975_**

James was enjoying himself playing with the Snitch he had 'borrowed'; although Lily had been acting awfully strange the past week, things had been going fairly well for him. He was well on his way to achieving top marks in all his classes except History of Magic...again, had managed to, thanks to the one-hundred point gain from stopping the Slytherins' attack on the firsties, plus a spectacular win by the Gryffindor team (360-80, thank you very much), make it so that they were, once again, in contention for the house cup, although it would be really rough to say the least. 'Yup, everything has been going just swimmingly...'

Then he frowned and grabbed the Snitch so that it was no longer distracting him. 'Well almost swimmingly; I have to say, while I am proud of my house for showing their ability to stick together in the name of Gryffindor, I think that they might be taking it out on the wrong target this time. I mean, Macdonald certainly shouldn't have helped Snivellus and his crew in taking all of those house points from Gryffindor, she has certainly been punished enough, and its obvious to everyone that, at the least, she had nothing to do with the attack, or we would have lost a ton of house points thanks to her, and she isn't a good enough liar to deceive McGonagall or Dumbledore, unlike Snivellus.'

His frown deepened as he continued his mental pondering. 'I think that nearly two months of hell from her own house is more than enough punishment, and some of the punishers seem to be getting a little carried away. After all, we are Gryffindor, we try to protect our pack from evil and darkness, and Slytherins too of course; we don't try to drive our members outside of the pack permanently. I mean, Mary has the option to change houses for goodness' sake! And, in all likelihood, she would probably want to go to Slytherin so that she can stay in the same house as her so-called romantic interest.'

There was another dimension to James' thoughts about the Macdonald subject: he recognized the smile that he had caught her wearing, and it gave him the chills. The last time that she had worn that same smile had been the week before she had humiliated Sirius in front of half the school; frankly, he did not want anything like that to happen again, especially given how perfect the timing was for Macdonald was if she wanted to humiliate someone. James knew the rules system like the back of his hand after all the times he had been caught for pranks or Snivellus had tried to get him in trouble, and based on what he knew, there was very little that McGonagall could do to punish Macdonald so long as she made sure that she didn't merit expulsion and planned to leave Gryffindor.

'The problem is that there are only two methods which McGonagall can use to punish Macdonald, and both of those have a cap, and are mutually exclusive. McGonagall can try to discipline her by putting her in detention or suspending her, and that is it. Not only that, but she can't put her in detention past the end of the term, and the limit for suspension is two weeks. Those are the only two options, because Mary, unlike virtually any student in history, has the option of LEAVING Gryffindor if worst comes to worst.'

Suddenly, he felt someone's breath on his ear, and then he heard a shouted "HEY!" come from right next to his right ear; cursing as he turned around, James found that Sirius had an expression of extreme annoyance plastered onto his face, and then Sirius said, clearly miffed, "Yo Prongs! Get your mind out of the clouds! Take a look over at Sabrina!"

Ironically, ever since Mary had humiliated him, Sirius had seemed to have his eye out for Sabrina everywhere he went, as, whenever she was in the room, he would act stupid and funny in an effort to impress her or something. 'Its really kind of sad; if he had went through half this trouble a few months ago, she would have been willing to marry him in a matter of weeks, but now she won't even give him the time of day...Maybe its because she is no longer wearing those awful grey shirts under her robes. Still, I have to admit...' He ran an eye over her speculatively. "...It does make her look awfully pretty."

As the other Marauders stared at him, James realized that he had said the last bit out loud, but he was far more intrigued by the bright red blush that Sabrina was now sporting...

* * *

Lily blushed as she looked at Severus out of the corner of her eye again; now that she KNEW of his love for her, it seemed that her bloody hormones were firing non-stop when he was nearby, causing her to act like a bloody teenager. 'Bloody hell! This is getting ridiculous Lily! Get ahold of yourself!'

She had spent almost the entire week, after she made a resolution to keep an eye on Black, agonizing over her choice between James and Severus; after careful consideration about how she felt about each and their traits, etcetera, she had come to the conclusion that, while James was more aesthetically pleasing, Severus had a...aura all his own that made him quite attractive as well. In addition, beyond that, she found Severus more enjoyable to be around, easier to get along with, more attractive mentally, and he was about as attractive to her as she had found James to be, which was saying something considering that that had been one of the things that really got their relationship together, even though she had previously loathed him.

'All in all, I would have to say that, if I had to decide who to date with no other factors, Sev would probably win by a landslide...' While Lily couldn't deny that there was a nice blaze of attraction towards James in her heart, now that she was paying attention to it, she found that, while the fire burning in her for a taste of Severus hadn't really gotten any larger than the one for James, it had only started, and she could see that the fuel by it was piled extremely high. While she was thinking, Severus said,

"So...what do you think of this one?"

After giving the pendant a quick appraisal, Lily replied flippantly, "Too tacky."

She and Severus were busy shopping for presents for Mary's birthday, which, unlike their own, took place in, and was celebrated during, the school year, in under two weeks as a matter of fact. As such, the pair had snuck out of Hogwarts for the day to try and find her something; although Mary was generally quite opaque about her preferences for presents each and every year, for some reason, this year she had specifically asked for a piece of jewelry with a green stone of some sort, for some reason which neither could fathom. Although Severus had always been a genius when it came to getting Lily gifts, with a case in point being the _Big Book of Nonverbal Defensive Charms-Standard Use for All Aurors _he had gotten her for her birthday and Christmas that year, with an apology that he had spent so much on the book that he didn't have the galleons to pay for anything for her birthday, he clearly needed a LOT more practice when it came to shopping for people in general as shown when he tried to pick up a truly awful ring with a sort of large crystal ball shaped green stone on it.

"Sev, I guarentee you that, if you give that to Mary, she would take every single DADA book you own, and burn them, and you would deserve it for giving her such a truly awful present."

As Severus shuddered at the thought of ANY of his DADA books being destroyed, Lily sighed as she returned to her train of thought about Severus and James. In the end, after a great deal of agonizing, and with a HUGE amount of uncertainty, she made her decision. 'I will choose to stick with James, at least for now...'

There were three problems with choosing Severus, at least, right away. The first problem was the age-old problem of going beyond friendship with your best friends, or, 'what if it doesn't work out?'; in all honesty, her friendship with Severus was far too important to risk unless she was nearly certain as to the outcome. Still, if that had been the only issue, she probably would have taken the gamble, but there were two others to deal with as well. First of all, based on the fact that he had just confessed his love to her, he clearly had no real interest in Mary beyond that of friends, whereas, thanks to her alterations in the time-line, Sabrina Percival had gotten over her attraction for Black MUCH faster than in her past life, and Lily could already tell that she was eyeing James to some extent, although Sabrina probably wouldn't do anything as long as Lily stayed with James.

'The problem is that that problem compounds the final problem; I KNOW that James and I can end up really happy together in the long run, while I can't say the same for my relationship with Sev. The thing is, since it is clear that Severus isn't really interested in Mary, it means that I have the ability to think the possibilities with Severus over carefully before taking the plunge. In contrast, if I give up on James immediately and go to Severus, I would be putting all my eggs in one basket, because the odds that I will be able to get James back after dumping him for 'Snivellus' would be somewhere close to 'when hell freezes over!', especially given the fact that Sabrina is just waiting in the wings for her chance.'

Because of all of these factors, Lily decided that, all in all, based on her suppositions, it was best to keep dating James and see if her feelings for Severus grew any more than they had already grown. She had no intention of risking her relationships with BOTH of these young men for what might just be a fleeting crush, so in the end, she said, "Severus, we need to..."

Then Severus suddenly interrupted, "Lily, I am really, REALLY getting worried about Mary..."

* * *

Lily stopped talking as soon as Severus started speaking, so he quickly continued, "I am really worried about her."

Lily, clearly worried, asked, "What do you mean? Sev?"

Severus marshaled his thoughts about the subject. 'That conversation that I overheard yesterday was quite...intriguing, if disturbing to say the least. I REALLY hope that she isn't planning to do what I think she is going to do...' Severus hated telling other peoples' secrets when there was no particular gain and he wasn't absolutely sure about what was going on, but he felt that this time he might want to make a exception. So he said,

"Lily, have you noticed anything particularly strange about Mary's behavior recently? Like around her fellow Gryffindors and such?"

Lily frowned, then said, after pausing for about a minute, "Not especially, no, although..." She stopped there for a moment, then continued, "...I remember how she was smiling all the time with particularly mean little spark in her eyes for the week before the dance back in December. She has been smiling like that again, whenever a Gryffindor, other than me, was around...Well, me or Sabrina; whenever she was nearby her, she would get this really cold, haunted look in her eyes..."

Severus sighed, then said, "I was afraid of that; you see, I was passing by one of the classrooms in the dungeon, when I heard...

_Flashback Yesterday February 22nd, 1975_

_Severus was walking down the dungeon corridor, thinking about how he had done on the DADA assignment he had just turned in the last class of the day. 'Ugh, Severus, you are being paranoid like Lily says again! Even if you misspelled _Incarcerous _in the extra-credit portion of the assignment, you probably didn't do too badly!' Severus, being unsure about the spelling, had tried to avoid using that word in the assignment whenever possible, but he still had to use it once. Nonetheless, he was probably overreacting, and he knew it; he had turned in nearly three feet of work on the main part of the assignment alone when that PLUS the extra-credit was only supposed to be about 20 inches..._

_He was still busy worrying over that possible misspelling, when he realized that he could hear voices coming from one of the nearby classrooms. It sounded like Justin, Arcturus and..."Mary?"_

_He quickly walked closer, trying to hear about what was going on; while he had thought that Arcturus had agreed to keep the cease-fire, he still was worried that he might try to help Justin if it came down to it. He had drawn his wand, readying himself to enter the classroom, when he suddenly heard Mary saying aloud, "...We are going to need MORE; don't forget boys, while I can do basically anything I want, SHE is limited as I am a fellow Gryffindor! So we might as well make it as devastating as possible!"_

_Severus heard Justin reply pensively, "I dunno Macdonald; I REALLY don't want to be caught. I would be in the Arctic without a Portkey if we got caught..."_

_Mary was about to reply, when Arcturus suddenly said, "One moment, _Muffliato_!"_

_Severus started to think to himself, trying to piece together what the conversation between the three had meant, while wondering, 'What would Mary be doing trying to get help from those two for...anything really?'_

"So in summary Lily, I think that Mary is trying to poison Sabrina. You see, before I snuck away, I got a very tiny peak inside the room, and I saw this little box filled with airtight vials of some kind of liquid, color indistinguishable at that distance."

Lily pursed her lips, then said, voice unsure, "I dunno Sev... I mean, I know that Mary, as much as she may try to deny it, has REALLY been missing Sabrina, and I think that Sabrina has been feeling the same way. I just can't see her trying to poison Sabrina anyway, no matter how angry and hurt she was... I mean, they are...were really good friends." At that, Lily got this really guilty look on her face, which had Severus wondering what had caused it, but he decided to let it drop for the moment.

Severus leaned back against a nearby wall, then looked up at the ceiling as he said, "Lily, I know that you try to see the best in everyone, but you have to understand something about Mary which I don't think you have really gotten. You see, Mary doesn't really let go of her anger that well, instead she bottles it up until she gets absolutely FURIOUS at the person she is angry at. You saw how she dealt with Sirius Black at the ball; when I help her, I can sorta minimize some of the excessiveness when she gets me involved. Remember the prank after the Quidditch game in December? Originally Mary wanted to practice this charm that she had learned somewhere, one where it targets someone and...brands them on the face with these...pustules. She was planning on using it so that each one of their faces was completely covered with insults in addition to being caught out of bounds...and they were supposed to be naked too. Luckily I talked her out of it, but if she gets that angry and I am not involved... Well, let's just say that it could be truly devastating to whoever the target is..."

* * *

**_Thirteen Days Later Friday March 8th, 1975_**

Mary smiled serenely as she transfigured the last of the potion vials to look like a very old and broken gobstone, then sent it over into a corner of the seventh-year boy's dormitories. 'Well, that's the last of them! It shouldn't be long now...' Immediately, she grabbed her books and bag and started to walk out of Gryffindor tower; she didn't expect anyone, other than Lily and Severus, because of the party that they were preparing for her that she wasn't supposed to know about, to be awake, because she had gotten up at about three in the morning just for that purpose, having gone to bed early the night before so that she wouldn't be tired. Suddenly though, she was startled by a voice,

"Hey Mary! Where'd you go!? I've been looking all over for you..."

Cursing mentally, Mary turned to look at her fri...no former friend, Sabrina Percival. She had been really hurt by Sabrina's betrayal of her, but had tried to bury it in anger; now that she had prepared her revenge though, she had gotten rid of her shielding anger, and just wanted to leave the room before she broke down from the hurt of remembering what she had done for Sabrina, only to be thrown to the wolves in return for it. While Sabrina hadn't really done anything directly, she had just stood there and watched whenever Mary had been attacked by their housemates. Forcing coldness into her voice, Mary said in a whisper, "Why would you even care Sabrina? Or did you just want to be nearby when the vultures devour my carcass?"

Flinching, as Sabrina had never much favored the discussion of such morbid things, Sabrina quietly said, "I wanted to apologize for how I have been acting; while I can't say that I agree with you about punishing Gryffindor for something that only Sirius did, I shouldn't have abandoned you for it..." Mary could see tears trailing down Sabrina's cheeks as she then continued, "...I was just so embarrassed myself, because the other girls were blaming me for what had happened, that I just...lashed out. This past month has been the worst in my life; Please Mary! Forgive me!"

Mary, of two minds because of what she had had planned, asked, subdued, "Do you really mean that Sabrina?"

Completely bursting into tears, Sabrina cried out, "Yes Mary! Please, I'll never abandon you like that again! Just promise me that you will be my friend again!"

Deciding that, although it was probably a moot point, she would give Sabrina another chance as, if she were being honest, she would have a terrific chance to prove it today, Mary said, her own eyes tearing up slightly, "OK...Its a deal, but this is the last time, OK?"

As Sabrina babbled her thanks, Mary guided her out of Gryffindor tower; in all honesty, Sabrina's declaration probably wouldn't be kept after today, and Mary regretted that terribly, but, just like when Lily had mentioned junk about turning the other cheek, and Severus told her that, if she planned on taking revenge on 'that certain someone', it was just too late. Events had already been set in motion, and the fallout if she backed out now would have been catastrophic. 'Maybe if Sabrina had made this request a month ago, even three weeks ago, but it really is too late now. All that's left to do is try to keep her out of it and see if she will choose me over Gryffindor this time...'

As the two of them headed towards the stairs, Mary couldn't resist taking one last look at the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, as she knew, in all likelihood, she would never open that portrait-hole ever again. As she turned her head away, she could almost sense the contents of the transfigured vials reacting with the air and turning into vapor, which would carry the sum of her fury throughout all of Gryffindor tower...

**Author's Note: **I know that many of you are probably really sad that Lily didn't just drop James and go straight over to Severus, but I hope that my reasons why she felt that she couldn't made sense. After all, choosing Severus and failing could destroy BOTH relationships with two people she cares very much; she wouldn't want to make that leap of faith until she was sure that it was more than just a crush. Still, enjoy the cliffhanger and prepare yourselves for the next chapter. I GUARANTEE you that it will be a complete shocker!

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:9

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):6

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:0

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56 'cough')**


	20. The Great Gryffindor Spew

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 20**

**The Great Gryffindor Spew**

_Nothing says 'I love you' like projectile vomiting..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Friday March 8th, 1975_**

Severus sighed; he was completely wiped out by the effort it took to prepare one of the disused classrooms for a proper birthday celebration for Mary. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he, Lily and Mary would be the only ones there to celebrate, but Lily had just said "In that case, let's do it so well that it seems as if there were twenty celebraters for each one of us!"; to this he had replied "How do you suppose we will manage that? I have a hard time being as happy as one of those peppy celebraters, LET ALONE TWENTY!".

Still, he was happy that he had been able to do it properly; he planned to give Mary the present that he had picked out himself. While he knew that he could have given her what she had asked for and that would be just fine, he had wanted to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to impress her. As such, he had, when not busy preparing for classes or hanging out with Mary or Lily, been secretly preparing a rather unusual and expensive-to-buy potion by the name of Salve of Ideal Beauty-Pretty. It was named because, when applied to the face, it would act as a combination of any number of normal beauty products such as lipstick, eyeshadow, blush and eyeliner, in order to create a combination of effects designed to make one ideally beautiful (The 'Pretty' portion of the name refered to the type of ideal one was going for; others included cute, beautiful and erotic).

'I still think that it is a complete waste of time for those two to spend so much time on 'sprucing up', but I'm sure she will like it, and besides, if we should ever go out on a date, it will save me a LOT of time!' Just in case it bombed, he had also gotten a piece of jewelry as she had requested: a pair of silvery earrings with a small green stone embedded into each. It wasn't particularly expensive, considering that the material wasn't exactly the genuine stuff, but, since he hadn't paid for it to be enchanted, he had been able to save a bundle by adding a couple standard enchantments to it himself, for example, the 'Find-Me' enchantment, which, as long as the owner said the keyed-in phrase, would make a sound like the tinkling of bells to alert him or her as to its location. Last but not least, he had put a card in with the potion, for Mary's eyes only.

He was just putting the finishing touches on his part of the decorations, when suddenly Lily said softly, "So Sev, are we OK? You know, about 'us'?"

Severus looked away for a moment, thinking; he knew that Lily, although she had chosen against him, had taken the time to seriously consider the possibility of a relationship with him before doing so. Because of that, he wasn't particularly angry, although he was quite disappointed that she hadn't said something like "Its about time Sev! You have no idea how long I was waiting for you to ask me that!", and hurt that she had chosen Potter of all people. Still, he knew that, at the least, he had could explore his options while Lily was dating Potter. While he didn't feel the same burning passion for Mary that he did for Lily, he certainly knew that that wasn't what you based a relationship on, and he and Mary seemed to mesh quite well, considering their commonalities.

If he did explore his options, that would mean that, even if she ended up breaking up with Potter, at least he would have some relationship experience, and besides, he might find that he loved Mary more than he loved Lily, although that did seem quite unlikely, but it could happen. Plus, what if Lily ended up marrying Potter? It had seemed unlikely a couple of months ago, but they did seem to have enough things in common that it could happen, although Severus suspected that Lily still hadn't seen the worst side of James, the side that he sometimes had nightmares about where Potter would mock his very existance while telling him that, eventually, Lily would realize just how inferior he was to Potter and that she would choose him instead of Severus.

Suddenly, Severus realized that he had spaced out for nearly a minute, as Lily looked worried that he might be ignoring her or something, so he said, forcing himself to keep most of the bitterness he felt at being rejected for POTTER away, "Yeah Lily, I think that we are OK."

She beamed at him and said, "So...I saw you packaging something other than the earrings. Tell me, what did you get Mary?"

Severus smirked, then said, "Well Lily, I could tell you, but then I am afraid that, like those spies in those Muggle movies you like to watch, I would have to kill you."

Lily seemed to think for a moment, while mock-frowning, then said, "Hmm, decisions, decisions..." She then grinned brightly, eyes gleaming, causing Severus' heart to skip a beat as he got the full effect of the devastating combination. "...Eh, nobody lives forever! So...TELL ME!"

Severus, blushing, then said, pretending to be sullen, "Fine. I got her a potion; you know, one of those witch beauty things..." Then he mumbled, "and a card..."

Luckily Lily apparently hadn't heard the second part, or she didn't care, as she grinned and said, "That sounds perfect..."

* * *

Sabrina was completely mystified at Mary's strange behavior; she was barely even picking at her food and guilt just RADIATED from her as she looked from one person at their table to the next. Concerned for her friend, Sabrina then asked tentatively, "So Mary...how have you been these past couple months? Have things between you and Severus been going well?"

Mary, although still looking guilty, suddenly perked up, then she said with a small smirk, "Well... Sev tried to confess to Lily as I hinted to him to..."

Sabrina's eyebrows hit the roof of her head, then she practically shouted, "You WANTED him to confess to her!? Mary, as, well hopefully, your friend, I must ask you, are you bloody insane!?"

Mary's smirk widened to a grin, then she said, chuckling, "If I am insane, it is like a mad genius in my opinion. You see, I had been studying them both for a while now, trying to find some sort of weakness that I could exploit to get Sev to ask me out for real, OK? You know, standard battle tactics."

Sabrina then said, unsure, "Ok...I think I am with you so far..."

Then Mary said with an evil gleam in her eyes, "Well, look at it this way; one of Sev's best qualities is his loyalty, given how he was still waiting for her, even though she was going out with the head toerag of all people, but what if she rejected him? Then there is nothing at all for him to be loyal to! I admit that it was a gamble, but now he is basically in romantic freefall, and I am right there to grab him!"

Sabrina, thinking it through, then spoke again, "So...basically, you have set yourself up to be the 'rebound girl'? Or am I missing something?"

Mary then replied confidently, "That may seem to be the case, but I have plenty of time to work him over now. I don't have to snap him up immediately, so long as he knows that Lily is completely beyond his reach right now. I know that he has a great deal of attraction for Lily, and they sort of counter each other's weaknesses, but WE have commonalities that we can work on together. If I get enough time, I know that I can win, Lily or no Lily!"

There was a long silence, during which Mary returned to her previously-moody state. Trying to keep her from going into a tailspin of some kind Sabrina then sighed slightly, before saying lightly, "Well, I guess that puts the kibosh on my suggestion of Remus Lupin..."

Mary raised her eyebrows, then replied, looking pensive and guilty still, "Huh...So that's two of the toerags who wanted to date me; ironic."

Sabrina, finally realizing that, by 'toerag', Mary meant 'Marauder', then said frostily, "I hope you know that the boy that I am interested in at the moment is one of those so-called 'toerags', James Potter. I don't particularly appreciate your refering to him as a 'toerag'."

For some reason, Mary then started to cry slightly, before taking one last look at the whole Gryffindor table and practically running out of the Great Hall. Sabrina, sorry that she had almost blown up on her friend when she was in such a state, and just after making friends with her again too, was about to go chasing after her, when she heard a voice that, a mere four months ago, she would have LOVED to be interested in walking to talk to her. "So, Sabrina. I've been meaning to tell you that...well, I am really sorry about what happened...then. You see, I got so desperate and caught up in trying to impress Macdonald that I just lost sight of everything else, and I caused you a lot of pain that I didn't intend..."

Sabrina glared back at Sirius Black and spat, "Oh sure...you regret it now...FOUR MONTHS AFTERWARD! Go to hell Black! Or at least get out of my sight! I am NOT going to forgive you for what you did! You used me and cast me aside like garbage, knowing all along how I felt about you! So excuse me if I don't have the slightest bit of forgiveness in me for trash like you!"

"But..."

Sabrina interrupted him, saying coldly, "If you were anything like your friend James, then maybe I would have reconsidered. Of course, he wouldn't have tried to do such a thing in the first place!"

Sirius then twitched a few seconds, looking pale and like he was having a little trouble swallowing, but then he said quietly, but in a voice filled with fury, "Well, if it was really so bad that you wouldn't date me because of it, I'll guess that Prongs is all out of luck, because I TOLD him about it before I did it! If he had actually been as good as you seem to think he is, then why didn't he say not do to it!?"

As Sabrina goggled, Sirius suddenly seemed mortified, "Wait, I shouldn't have said that! Stupid Pad-ULP-!"

There was a sudden flash of light and Sabrina thought for a moment that she must have been having a nightmare, then she realized that, yes, Sirius Black had indeed just VOMITED all over her face and chest, before passing out in front of her, causing a goblet of pumpkin juice to spill onto her lap...

* * *

Dumbledore smiled lightly as he sat before the soon-to-be former Gryffindor, Mary Macdonald; surprisingly for a girl who had just committed a prank such as she had, she looked horrified, and seemed to just be waiting for him to drop the hammer on her. 'It is quite odd how she would feel guilty after such a minor prank, when she showed no remorse about ripping into Sirius Black in front of most of the school...' Chuckling at the irony, he then said, with a twinkle in his eye as usual,

"Miss Macdonald, I am afraid that, based on the events of today, I will have no choice but to take fifty points away from Slytherin house, as that is the house you are now that the re-sorting is complete. Even though the rules technically prohibit me from taking points away from any house other than the house of the perpetrator of the prank, which was Gryffindor when you performed it, I believe that an exception should be made in this case, considering how you attempted to manipulate that rule, unless I miss my guess."

Mary's eyes then went round as she stared at the aged headmaster. She then spluttered, "F-fifty p-points? No detentions or suspensions?"

Dumbledore laughed, amused at the sheer shock that he didn't even need Leglimency to read, then said kindly, "Now, now, Miss Macdonald. I don't believe that what you have done today merits any more than a fifty-point deduction, although I do suspect that, once the picture that Mr. Mulciber sent to the Daily Prophet gets published, the Gryffindors will be in quite an uproar indeed. Now then, I believe that that will be all, unless you had something else that you wanted to tell me?"

She stuttered, "N-no, s-sir..."

After staring at him for another few moments, Mary then left, clearly confused for some reason about her punishment...

* * *

Mary, still dizzy, walked slowly down the hall. 'H-how? I was SURE that, at the VERY LEAST, he was going to suspend me; I mean, he might have even been able to expel me, considering what I did, so why did he let me off with what was basically a slap on the wrist considering the prank I performed?'

Still thinking to herself, she had no way of noticing the foot that tripped her until it was too late. As she turned around from her prone position on the floor, she saw Selene Malfoy looking at her with a cold expression, before Selene said crisply, "We need to talk...NOW!"

Selene then grabbed her by the arm and dragged her into a nearby classroom, then, while Mary was still regaining her bearings, silenced the door using a spell that Mary recognized as one of Severus'. Finally, Selene said calmly, "I suspect, Miss Macdonald, that you are surprised at how the Headmaster punished a prank as serious as your's so lightly; the reason is quite simple actually: your prank was altered."

Mary sprung up, incensed; while she had been feeling more and more guilty about how far she had been willing to go for the sake of vengeance, above and beyond what she had needed to fulfil Lucius' requirements, she was still angry that the plan had been changed without telling her. She was about to give her a piece of her mind, when Selene pointed her wand at her and said, lazily, _"Silencio."_

As Mary mouthed curses which no-one would ever hear, Selene continued, "You see, Mudblood, your plan was extremely reckless, and very much against my desires, so I had it altered. I had been mildly worried from the moment that Lucius first agreed to your bargain, but when Arcturus mentioned that he was getting concerned about how hot your desire for vengeance was, I had little choice but to act. As can be easily shown from your little 'performance' at the ball, when you try to get your vengeance, you lose...focus."

She then waved her wand lazily and muttered something, making it possible for Mary to speak again; she growled out to mask her unease, "And what do you mean Malfoy? I realize now that it was excessive, but it was no risk for you, so why do you even care! I KNOW what type of woman you are! You wouldn't care if anyone but Lucius and the rest of your family got hurt, so what is the REAL reason you altered the prank!?"

Selene then said coolly, "Be quiet Mudblood; _scourgio!" _Suddenly, Mary's mouth was filled with soap bubbles, causing her to retch at the taste and nearly choke, until they finally dissipated. Finally, Selene continued,

"You are right about me not caring about what happens to any foolish Gryffindors...or former Gryffindors, but you also fail to understand something about...precision. You see, if you had performed your little 'operation' as planned, far more than you and Gryffindor would have been affected. In all likelihood, it would have been EXACTLY like your performance at the ball!"

Mary, confused slightly, asked, "What do you mean?...Oh..."

Selene, laughing mockingly, replied, "Yes, indeed, 'Oh' is right...!" Then she glared at Mary, before shouting, "If you had done it as planned, then you would have likely caused significant damage to the knighthood's chances in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and, more importantly, it likely would have led to an escalation of hostilities between our house and Gryffindor, something that we DO NOT WANT! Slytherin has far better things to do than to get into a pitched battle with Gryffindor at this time! Besides..." She then continued in a softer tone, "Your stupidity would have led to troubles with someone I do INDEED care about! Now then, I am going to tell you 'what you did', and you will go on as if you had done it, or I will practice some of my Dark Magic upon you directly, DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"

Mary, truly frightened at this point, nodded immediately. 'What the hell have I gotten myself into...?'

* * *

Lily frowned; she, Severus and, to her surprise, Sabrina, had all been doing their best to give Mary a great party, but she still appeared spooked about something. Glancing at Severus, he signaled to her, with only his eyes, that it might be a good time to open presents, so, forcing a smile, Lily said brightly, "Hey Mary, would you like to open your presents now?"

Mary grinned, although to anyone who knew her it could be easily seen as fake, and said, "Sure Lily, I would love to!"

They started with Lily's gift, a full set of pincushions, needles and pillows, perfect for transfiguration practicing, especially with the _Transfiguration Spells of The Eighteenth Century _book that Lily had also gotten her. While Mary had smiled slightly, mood clearly improving, Lily could tell that her gift had fallen a tad flat, so she prepared to let Severus offer his gift, when Sabrina suddenly said, nervously, "Here Mary, I remembered that it was your birthday today, so I ordered you something, to impress any cute boys in your life..." Sabrina then winked at a now-blushing Severus, before laughing merrily and saying, "...at least you seem to find boys worth going after! Too bad!"

Lily laughed along with Mary at the embarrassed expression on Severus' face and the way he was trying to hide it with his long hair, then Sabrina said, "Yup! I am SO done with Marauders! Did you hear Lily!? Right as Black was confessing his love to me..." Her face then grew troubled, and Sabrina seemed to think for a moment, before continuing, "...Among other things, He THREW UP right in my bloody face, then spilled pumpkin juice onto my lap when he fell unconscious!"

As Lily laughed again, Sabrina turned toward Mary and, still laughing, asked, "Mary, Mary, Mary. How the devil did you manage to get a timed-release vomit-inducing potion which also knocked out all of Gryffindor but you, me, and Lily here!?"

Mary paled, but grinned as she said, "Sorry, that's classified. Besides, my superiors might get angry if I told..."

Lily was confused by what Mary meant, but Severus said, smirking, "I heard from Arcturus that he had actually photographed the whole thing, and sent the photos to the Daily Prophet; apparently it will be called, 'The Great Gryffindor Spew'."

Both of the Gryffindor girls looked at him, embarrassed, but Severus then said smoothly, "I am afraid however, that, if we don't get to my gift soon, I might throw up on the table from all of this cake..."

Lily watched with a grin as Severus gave Mary the two gifts he had told her about; both Lily and Sabrina were jealous at Severus' gift of Salve of Ideal Beauty, but he assured Lily privately that, not realizing just how much was in a bottle of the stuff, he had made enough to give a similarly-sized bottle to all three girls for their birthdays AND christmas for the next two years. Then, as Mary noticed the letter, Severus gave Lily a identical one with a wide grin, mouthing 'read it'. As Lily did so, her eyes went wide with absolute glee...

**Author's Note:** I won't tell you guys all of what Mary had planned, but I will say this, although it wouldn't be dangerous in any way, Gryffindor would NOT have enjoyed having all of its students spending multiple days in the hospital wing. No permenent damage mind you, but..."YEOUCH!"...

Now then, this is a cliffie of a good kind; maybe that means that the next chapter will be hell...=)

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:12

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):6

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56, Scarlette Letter 'cough')**


	21. Prelude to An Escalation

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 21**

**Prelude to An Escalation**

_The first step to an apocalypse..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Four Weeks Later Friday April 5th, 1975_**

"AHHHHHHH!"

Lily Evans woke up in a cold sweat, screaming, for the third night in the past two weeks; at first, she had thought that it was nothing, but it seemed that, more and more, her dreams were prophetic rather than otherwise, but she didn't understand what it meant, except for the end, and even that was strange. First she would see a pair of crossed swords, then a talking star, claiming impossible things, a wolf in chains, a scroll of many names, Mulciber's anguished face, a symbol of a pair of flaming wings with a two words in blue: _aduro terrarum _above them, all on a green background. More and more things would appear at speeds too fast to see until finally she would see herself, standing by James Potter on a grassy island in front of a black bog.

Severus was out of reach of her, a fair distance from the edge of the island in the black, slimy water and she stood at the very edge of the bog, pleading desperately in many words and phrases for Severus to join her on the island; after what seemed like ages, she saw Severus walking slowly closer to her, and her face break into a smile, but just as Severus was about to get within reach, they all heard a voice coming from deep within the bog. They both turned to look and saw Mary standing on the water somehow, inside of a flaming circle; she was crying out "Help me! Please!", and was clearly in great pain.

Severus took one look back at Lily, then followed Mary deep into the bog, even as Lily cried out for him to return desperately, until finally, he reached her inside of the flaming circle and hugged her. Mary clutched Severus to her as if he were the water of life himself, and then the flaming circle seemed to be absorbed by the pair of them. Soon afterward, lines of black and red energy seemed to shoot from the pair in all directions, then those lines would shoot lines, creating a massive spiderweb that looked as if it were made of lava. Suddenly, all the areas that those lines went through were filled with people, such as Voldemort, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Remus, Sabrina, Sirius, James, etc., thousands of them, and then those people started screaming as they were slowly immolated. Meanwhile, Severus and Mary only looked into each other's eyes and gave each other a single, passionate kiss as it seemed the world died around them...

"Argh! What could it all possibly mean!?"

Lily walked over to the window, knowing that she was far too awake to fall asleep again, and looked out at the cloudless, star-strewn night sky, before thinking about some of the events that had occured in the past month. 'After Sev's letter last month...it seemed like I had entered my perfect heaven...'

_Flashback Four Weeks Ago Friday March 8th, 1975:_

_Lily read the letter, heart pounding in a state of rapture with every single line:_

_Dear Lily,_

_I would have hated it if I had to admit that you were right aloud, but right you were nonetheless; I have to admit that, indeed, the Death Eaters themselves are just as prejudiced as their Knight of Walpurgis sons and daughters._

_As such, I have decided to leave the organization come this summer; that way I figure that the fallout from leaving should be lessened by the passage of time._

_Severus Snape_

_P.S. Burn this letter...Seriously_

_Lily grinned brilliantly, as she had finally managed to complete one of her original three objectives, and one of the two she had actually cared alot about. She now had Severus safe and secure on the side of the light. 'Yes, Yes! YES! There is no way that this can possibly go wrong now! My Severus will be my friend forever, I have time to decide about my feelings for him, what could possibly ruin this now!?'_

_Then suddenly Mary burst into tears after reading her own letter, and she said, sobbing, "Great, just great. I decided to join the Knights of Walpurgis because of what you said, so that I could protect myself from the prejudiced members of Slytherin, only for you to admit that you were wrong. Yeah that's just PERFECT!"_

_Lily, Sabrina and Severus all moved to comfort her, but the look in Severus' eyes had Lily very worried indeed; it was a look of guilt, and Lily knew that, when Severus felt guilty, he always moved heaven and earth in his efforts to redeem himself. That could lead to very dangerous possibilities sometimes, and this time felt like one of those instances, as Severus had the same look on his face as the time he called her...that word, a look that said that he was about to do something really stupid indeed. The last time that she had seen it, she had made a decision which she had ended up regretting for the rest of her life, so seeing it again seemed to make the classroom appear darker than it had a moment ago..._

_End Flashback:_

Lily watched some clouds appear and slowly roll past the stars, while feeling a great sense of foreboding at what was going on around her. It seemed that her plan to have Severus and Mary become friends had backfired greatly; over the past several weeks, although she didn't see anything directly, she could tell that Severus and Mary were becoming more and more enmeshed in the Knights of Walpurgis, although Lily couldn't quite understand why. 'OK, maybe I do know why Mary is getting deeper and deeper into those arrogant bigots' band. Severus alone would have had a rough time leaving, especially considering just what kind of group he is in, but for Mary to do that would turn her into even more of a pariah than she already is...'

She sighed and looked straight up at the full moon, thinking to herself. 'I never thought I'd say this, but I am starting to wish that Sev had just let Mulciber put Mary in the hospital wing back in October and they had never become friends. At least Severus would be preparing to leave the Knights and Mary would be safe in Gryffindor...'

* * *

Severus sighed as he looked gloomily around the Slytherin table in the Great Hall; although Slytherins tended to be more subtle about it than Gryffindors, they could be just as cruel. Unfortunately, among the Knights' supporters in the house, Mary was still 'persona non grata' because of the simple fact that she was a Muggleborn, and among the rest, she was rather disliked because, although she managed to humiliate Gryffindor, the aftermath of the prank that Mary had pulled had ended up costing Slytherin about a hundred points before all was said and done, putting Gryffindor within striking distance of the House Cup.

Severus knew that he had to do something to help her and protect her, but the problem was that he only had influence among the Knights, and that was relatively gone after he had bailed on their operation back in January. 'Darn it! This is all my fault! If it weren't for my blasted pride, she wouldn't be in such dire straights, but the worst part of it all is that I can't even do anything about it! I mean, I don't have the influence or power to do anything inside the Knights, and those NOT in the Knights wouldn't want to help me because I am a bloody Knight!'

Every day he had had to watch Mary getting snubbed by her housemates, and those little miserable looks that she would give him, pleading for him to do something. Severus felt so bad about how this had all been his fault, that he couldn't even bear to try asking her out on a date, because he just KNEW that she would reject him because of what he had done to her. 'Maybe Tobias was right...I must be completely worthless if I can't even protect the two girls who mean the world to me...'

Severus then growled under his breath, angered at himself because he had actually considered listening to his bloody father of all people. He channeled it into a surge of courage, like a Gryffindor in his opinion, although he would NEVER tell Lily. 'NO! I am the Half-Blood Prince! I WILL find a way, and protect Mary! Whatever it take, I MUST find a way!'

He then left the Great Hall and went down into the dungeons, thinking all the while as he opened the door to the classroom that he liked the best. Unfortunately, he had come to a conclusion that he hated, although he knew that, if he REALLY wanted to protect Mary, it was the only real way. 'The problem I have right now, is that I have no real power or influence with the Knights, but if I were to gain some, like I had back in December and January, I could make them all back down, lest they face my anger.'

He then glared down at his Shrinking Solution, and sighed. 'The problem is that, for someone of my blood status and lack of funds, there are only two real ways to gain power and influence in the Knights: by attacking and humiliating Muggleborns, or by attacking and humiliating toerags...'

While a mere half-year ago, Severus would have happily made the Marauders' lives a living hell, and smiled while doing it, the problem was that he and the Marauders had created what was, for lack of a better word, a state of cease-fire. He didn't know how she did it, but immediately after she left the hospital wing in February, Lily had somehow managed to get Black and Pettigrew to stop their attacks completely, Potter having already stopped so that he could show Lily how 'reasonable' he was. Severus then snorted. 'Of course, Potter and I both know that, while Lily may be dating him, in a pinch she would likely choose me over him if she had to, so obviously he doesn't want to go for direct attacks anymore, knowing how angry she has gotten about it lately. Still, I have to admit that I am a little impressed considering what happened with Mary's prank...'

Severus then thought about how miserable that Mary had looked back at the Slytherin table, and then said aloud, "I guess there is always a price to pay whatever action you take, and I am not about to let Mary suffer when my actions can prevent it from happening. As such, I will honor Potter for his unwitting sacrifice in the name of Mary's safety..."

* * *

**_Two Days Later Sunday April 7th, 1975_**

Mary frowned slightly, then put her finger to her lips to help her think, before finally saying aloud, "OK, let me get this straight Sev. You want me, plus some random Slytherin, to join you in attacking the Marauders in order to help you gain more influence in the Knights so that you can protect me. Is that correct?"

Severus seemed to pause for a moment, then said, nodding, "Basically, yes."

Mary then rolled her eyes, and asked, laughing at his little attempt to 'protect' her, "Severus Snape, if you wanted to create an excuse to impress me, you didn't have to try to bring the Marauders into it. If you really wanted to ask me out, you could have just done so, I wouldn't have said 'no'. And if you were actually serious about it, then you are being a tad silly. I'm fine! REALLY!"

Severus colored red for a moment, then said, embarrassed, "That's not it at all Mary! It is NOT fine how they treat you! I hate how you are being snubbed and such by the members of our house, and I want to make it so that they won't. I mean, it's my fault that you got into this, so I want to help you get out of it..."

Mary thought for a moment; she had to admit that she was awfully touched by how far he was willing to go to keep her safe and happy, but would this be worth it? Then she thought of something else. 'If Severus does actually get high up in the organization, then maybe I will be able to quit without being tormented by all of Slytherin! That way, by the time he DOES quit, they will have forgotten all about me!' Grinning, she nodded at Severus, before saying,

"That sounds like it might work, but who would we use as our third? Mulciber?"

Severus shook his head sadly, then said morosely, "Unfortunately, now that he has paid his 'debts' to you, Mulciber would have no interest in helping you in any way. In fact, I can't say I would be too surprised if he was actually turning a blind eye of some sort to the teasing going on now. We'll have to think carefully, before choosing our third member for this little rivalry. One thing though, I would rather avoid getting Lupin involved if its OK with you. He may be a coward, but he never really joined in with his mates, so, since this only requires the humiliation of the toerags in general, let's try to keep him out of it."

Mary thought to herself a moment, before nodding and saying, "OK, that would make it a three-on-three. I like those odds, as Black and Potter are about evenly matched against me and you. Besides, we have the force of history on our side!"

Severus raised his eyebrows, then said, disbelievingly, "The force of...history?"

Mary grinned mischieviously, then replied, "Why of course! Haven't you heard? The knights of old killed all of those marauding barbarians! Why should the new Knights of Walpurgis be any different?"

Severus laughed uproariously, then said, "Very well then..." Mary then turned to go, before Severus suddenly continued, "...Oh, and by the way, would you like to go with me to Hogsmeade next Sunday? Like a date?"

Turning back in shock, Mary saw Severus testing a new recipe for Shrinking Solution, but could see that, although his hair was obscuring his face, it wasn't concealing his blush, which ran down his neck in a rather interesting manner. Beaming, Mary then said, "Sure Sev, its a date..."

* * *

**_Four Days Later Thursday April 11th, 1975_**

Sabrina sighed as she watched Lily Evans out of the corner of her eye, laughing as James Potter attempted to feed her some eggs; while she had nothing against Lily, after she had found out about James' little part in Sirius' plan to take her virginity in order to make Mary jealous, she had rapidly cooled on the Potter boy, much to his confusion. 'Hmmph! Serves him right! And here I thought that he had paid for my dress because he felt guilty for what Sirius did, but if he had REALLY cared, he would have stopped him in the first place! Not tried to smooth things over with me after the fact!'

Sabrina didn't feel sorry for stopping her flirtations with the leader of the Marauders cold, but she DID feel sorry that she was leaving Lily out of the loop on what James had done, or rather, not done. 'Oh well, it might not be the right thing, but its the best way I have to repay Mary for my own mistakes, which were probably part of the reason she left Gryffindor and joined those bloody Knights of Pure-blooded stupidness. This way, Mary will have time to put the moves on Severus, without Lily really interfering, something which I suspect that she will need if she really wants Severus...'

The way that Sabrina had thought about it in the hours that she had waited, as class for the Gryffindors had been canceled that day thanks to the entire Gryffindor house falling unconscious after throwing up. 'That reminds me, I really should get yesterday's Daily Prophet permenently protected and warded. "The Great, Gryffindor Spew!" must never be destroyed, as it gives me the ultimate weapon to use against Sirius if I should need to!'

She suddenly noticed Severus and Mary walking into the hall, holding hands as they did so, then she quickly turned to look at Lily. At first, Lily clearly hadn't noticed, but when she did, there was a definite change in her facial expression; her lip curled slightly and, for a moment, her eyes seemed to blaze in anger, before she managed to force herself back to the smiling face that she had been sporting before she had seen the pair. Nonetheless, Sabrina could still see the way Lily's teeth ground together every time that she looked over at the Slytherin table. 'Ha! You snooze you lose! At least, I hope you do...'

Unfortunately, as Sabrina could easily see, the signs of a relationship being in the, easily breakable, early stages were clearly visible, and Sabrina KNEW that, if Lily got off her rear to try to win Severus over to her, she would likely still win. As such, she planned on keeping what Sirius had blabbed to her confidential until Mary had managed to achieve a conclusive victory.

She was still deep in thought, when a scroll arrived in front of James by owl, bearing a scroll ornately wrapped, with a wax seal with the shape of a pair of crossed swords keeping it shut...

**Author's Note: **I am sure that a lot of you guys are more than a little bit shocked at Mary's sudden joining of the Knights of Walpurgis, but I hope that it is explained by her believing Severus' point of view, and by the fact that she felt that she needed a form of protection inside of Slytherin house from the situation that occured in Gryffindor repeating itself.

Sorry that this took longer than my previous Chapters to get up, but I wasn't exactly sure which way I wanted to take the coming chapters. I hope that you all enjoy!

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:12

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):6

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56, Scarlette Letter 'cough')**

**_The Poll Will be Closed Come Chapter 25..._**


	22. Declaration of War

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 22**

**Declaration of War**

_I gave him just enough rope..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Thursday April 11th, 1975_**

James carefully read the message that he had received from Severus Snape of all people, then reread it to make sure; he then asked Lily, who was, for some reason, staring at the seal on it with a look of horror, "Lily dear, does this actually say what I think it says, or am I seeing things? Please read it to me so that I can make sure."

Lily's face went blank, then she swallowed and took the message from his hands, then said, voice quavering, "Dear Mr. Potter, I am sure that you are truly horrified to receive a message from 'one of those slimy snakes' as you call us, so I shall make this brief..." Lily then took a deep, shuddering breath, before continuing, "...I, Severus Snape, and my two allies, Mary Macdonald and Justin Avery, declare a war upon you, and whatever two people you choose to accept as your allies, as you will have sign in the reply to this message."

James waited, unsure, but with growing eagerness with each and every line that Lily read out, waited as Lily looked over at the Slytherin table, where the two, new lovebirds, Snape and Macdonald, were sitting together, watching him like they were cobras and he was their snake charmer; Lily had a look on her face like she had been betrayed, but she mastered herself and continued, "As I am sure that you want a clarification of what I mean by a war, I will keep it short and simple; you, and your allies, may do whatever you want to harm and/or humiliate us, with the exception of acts which would merit your expulsion from Hogwarts; something which, based on the unfairly biased treatment that you have received by many of the professors, is probably limited to the act of murder. However, I must warn you, that these rules apply equally to myself and my allies."

For some reason, Lily was in tears as she made her way to the ending, "If you fail to understand what I have said, something which is quite likely given your complete lack of perceptiveness and intelligence, then I shall put it to you simply: Take. Your. Best. Shot. In any case, this war will go on until a truce is negotiated, or one side gives up, and admits in front of the entire school population that they are complete, snivelling cowards, and are unworthy to lick the victors' collective boots. If you should decline to accept this declaration, then I shall have license to mock you forever as a pathetic coward, who is unfit to challenge an angry ant, let alone me. Be warned, once you have accepted, and have received the signatures of your allies, that this will be, in effect, a lesser version of an _Unbreakable Vow_, and you will be forced, by the magic of the declaration to perform the act mentioned previously that would have been a consequence of your defeat. Sincerely, Your better, Severus Snape."

Lily looked at the declaration with dead eyes, which would have normally made James bend over backwards to comfort her, but he had more important matters to deal with at the moment; he immediately called out, "Oi! Padfoot! Moony! Wormtail! We have major Marauder business to discuss, NOW!"

Lily seemed to snap out of it, as she turned toward him with pleading eyes and asked, almost begging, "Please James, decline. I couldn't bear it if the two of you were to fight again; if you accept... one of you could get hurt..."

James looked into Lily's eyes, and, for a moment, considered declining, but then he thought about how much Snape would lord it over him if he, James Potter, the leader of the Marauders, were to avoid challenging him like some coward; as his friends arrived, questioning looks upon our faces, he whispered to Lily, "Sorry Lily, I just can't do that. If Snape wants a war, then a war he shall receive...Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Marauder's business to take care of..."

He could see her spirit crushed, but he knew that it was necessary; there was no way he would EVER let himself be mocked as a coward. Besides, this was a terrific opportunity to do what he had been wanting to do for months, as he had hated every moment that he had seen Lily spending time with that blot on existence, and this would be a truly incredible way to humiliate Snivellus as he so richly deserved. He then started to show the letter to Sirius, Peter and Lupin, who had gleeful, worried and disapproving looks on their faces respectively as they read it...

* * *

Severus tried to keep himself from sweating as he waited, staring at the door to the classroom he always worked with Lily and Mary in; he knew that, sooner or later, Lily would show up and be completely furious. He knew that she had seen the message that he had sent to her...boyfriend. He had to admit that, even though he was trying to get past his feelings for her, he hated it every single moment that that word crossed his mind and didn't refer to him as her's.

'Still, I can't say that I regret asking Mary out on a date even slightly; she may not have the same things in common with me that Lily does, but I don't want to replace Lily with her anyway. I am not going out with her because she is Lily's replacement, but because I honestly have feelings for her as well, and I want to see how deep those feelings run. I get jealous when I see Lily talking to Potter, and want to run him through whenever I see him with her, but I also hated watching Regulus Black flirting with Mary last night in the common room, so clearly I can't decide based on the fact that I hate seeing other men trying to date her.'

He was busy running through his thoughts when, as expected, the door opened with a bang, revealing Lily standing there with a furious look upon her face. She looked at him, seemed to reconsider something, and settled for a blank, unreadable expression as she said, voice quavering slightly, "Sev...Why?"

Severus sighed at this, for he had a problem; he really wanted to tell Lily the reason that he was doing this, so that she would understand why he was, but he couldn't afford to. He knew that Lily really, REALLY wanted him and Potter to, if not become friends, at least be able to tolerate each other, and, for the past two months, it seemed to have actually been working. While he still hated Potter more than anything else in the world, he had to say that the situation had improved dramatically, and, if Lily were to keep dating Potter, it would be...useful if he could talk with her in Potter's presence without the toerag trying to run him off. 'Unfortunately, that is the problem...'

Severus then said quietly, "Lily, trust me when I say this. I would LOVE to tell you why I am doing this, and I really do have good reasons and goals, but if I did, then you would try to use it to make peace between myself and Potter. I can't allow that; I just can't..."

Lily then said quietly, eyes brimming with the tears that Severus would risk vast harm to himself to prevent, "So what are you saying? I mean, I thought that you were OK with how things were between you, me and James; why would you destroy that? I mean, surely there is something that I, or someone, could do to fix whatever the problem is without you and James having to do this 'war'..."

Severus turned away, hiding his own sadness behind the walls of his hair, and said, "Lily, there is no alternative that I would accept; I have to fight this war with him, but I want you to know that it isn't for me. In all honestly, while I will never stop hating Potter, I really did like how you had tried to make peace between him and I, and maybe in another world it would have succeeded, but I really do need to do this."

Lily, clearly getting desperate, then said, "If it requires the two of you fighting this 'war', and it really is for good reasons, then why can't you just have me tell him, and you two could just...make it look real?"

Severus honestly hadn't considered that option, and he had to admit, it certainly DID sound like an excellent one, but he had to say, "Again Lily, I am really, truly sorry, but, even if Potter and his...Marauders had the acting skill to make it look real, I doubt that he would be willing to take the damage necessary for it to work in order to help a 'slimy Slytherin'..."

Lily then looked scared, and asked, "The...damage?"

Severus just stood, looking down at the floor, and said quietly, "Yes, the damage; in order for it to be effective, there will likely be attacks that will hurt each each of us that make all the incidents but one of the ones that have occured between Potter and I during the four years that I have been here look like mere schoolboy pranks. There can be no other way, or it will be meaningless; You can tell Potter that if you want to."

As Lily looked horrified at the very idea, Severus looked into her eyes and said quietly, "Lily, I want you to promise me something; you said when we would kids that we would be friends forever no matter what. In the name of that promise, and the trust in me to be worthy of your friend that it implied, I need you to have faith that I am trying my best to do the right thing here, and that this really is indeed necessary."

As Lily seemed to be weighing what he said, unsure about something, he continued quietly, "As much as I dislike your relationship with Potter, I don't have a problem with you continuing it, even if the two of us are on opposite sides of this 'war'. There are more important things than who is on what side after all..."

Lily seemed to be unsure still, but she said, "While I think that you are making a huge mistake here, I will try to have faith in you as you requested..." She seemed to struggle with something, then continued quietly, "...But Severus, what if the side you were on in a war was against the side I was on? I mean, we might be trying to kill each other; could you honestly say that you wouldn't care if we were on different sides of a war?"

Severus only stared into her eyes, trying to make her understand just how much he truly believed this, "Even if we were on opposite sides of a war, I would always love you, and always be your friend. Always..."

* * *

"OK, so Snivellus has basically given us _carte blanche_ to do whatever the hell we want so long as we agree to this declaration? Has he gone insane Moony, or is it just me?"

Remus frowned at Sirius' question, then said in a worried tone, "Sirius, you have to realize something; Snape exemplifies Slytherin qualities, and as such, wouldn't agree to, let alone offer, a pitched battle like this unless he was quite certain that he would win. If we were to agree to this, it is likely that we would be facing poor odds. After all, consider strict combat abilities; Snape is definitely the superior of either you or James in a one-on-one, and, no offense, but Peter would likely be unable to win against either him, or Avery, and we have no idea how much Dark magic he has taught Macdonald by this point. You could be facing very grim odds indeed if it turned into a fair fight."

James, Sirius and Peter all laughed, then Peter said disbelievingly, "Snivellus beating us in a fair fight? Moony, I don't know what battles you have been watching between us and him, but he hasn't managed to defeat us yet."

Remus was about to respond when Lily suddenly flew into the Boy's dormitory where the Marauders had been debating the declaration; she walked over to James and asked desperately, "James, none of you have signed the message yet, right?"

James looked away and replied, "We haven't yet, but we have agreed that Peter and Sirius are the best choices, because of Moony's...furry little problem, and how he doesn't really have any experience battling Snape."

Lily looked somewhat relieved, then said worriedly, "Well, please don't sign it; Sev told me to tell you that there would likely be attacks that make all but one of the pranks involved so far, save one, look like, and I quote 'mere schoolboy pranks'. If you agree to this, it will likely be very painful and brutal indeed; Sev said that it can be no other way..."

Remus looked out at the other boys' faces; Peter looked a bit scared, Sirius looked disbelieving, and James... James just looked angry and determined. James then growled out, "If he thinks that we, the Marauders, are going to be backed down by a bunch of bullies..." Remus had to force himself not to roll his eyes at that. "...then he has another thing coming! Padfoot! Wormtail! Sign those lines for the bloody reply! We have a war to plan!"

Lily stuttered out, "W-wait! That's not what my point was!"

However, before she had even finished the last word of the sentence, Sirius and Peter had both signed the lines, which flared red and gold for a moment. As Lily walked out sadly, clearly devastated at her inability to ever get James and Snape to stop fighting, Remus started thinking to himself. 'The odd thing is, if Lily hadn't been the one to say it, I never would have believed that Snape had said those words. He may be our eternal enemy, but he, even when he had the chance, hasn't ever hurt us physically anywhere near as much as we have hurt him. Why would he change his tune all of a sudden...?"

* * *

**_Two Weeks Later Thursday April 25th, 1975_**

Lily normally would have been happy at how the last two weeks had played out; although Severus and his group, which Lily had taken to mentally calling Aduro, basing it on the dream, had been attacking James and the Marauders every chance they got, typically winning every fair fight, none of their attacks had done any real damage to their foes, but the dreams had been coming more and more often, with one small difference in that the crossed swords shown at the start of the series of odd things had been grayed out. Lily then chided herself unhappily, 'Of course they have been greyed out; that part has already happened! What is strange about the situation is how Severus made that declaration and threat, and hasn't really followed through. What could that mean?'

Lily sighed at this, for something just wasn't making sense; one of Severus' best qualities was, when he put his mind to something, he always followed through on his intentions, for good or ill, yet, here he was, not doing anything close to what the Marauders had used to do, let alone what they were doing now. As James had found out, much to his displeasure, in any fight where the numbers were even, and either Peter or Severus was there, the Marauders would lose the vast majority of the time, as Severus was significantly better than his opponents, and Peter was significantly worse. 'I guess that's not much of a surprise. While James and Sirius are certainly talented, their combat experience basically consisted of attacking a single boy they outnumbered three-to-one, an extremely easy task,while Severus' consisted of trying to defend himself against those odds, a FAR harder one. No wonder Sev is able to outmatch any of them one-on-one.'

Because of this, the Marauders had been forced to change their tactics drastically, just to stay even with Aduro; they had stopped attacking in public at all, and had instead started trying to hit their opponents when they were seperated, and simply blasted them with spells in quick succession until they were knocked out. After all, with the exception of the teachers, which neither side was willing to call in, the only thing limiting either side was the rules that they had agreed to. 'Or lack thereof...'

Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder, awakening her from the trance she had gotten herself into; blinking, she turned and saw Sabrina, who had a confused look on her face herself. Sabrina then asked, "Lily, could I talk to you privately? There is something really odd about Severus' war, and I want to make sure that I have all of the facts straight."

Lily understood completely; neither herself or Severus had said much about what was going on to anyone, so James had taken it upon himself to explain how he had 'agreed to a great war to defeat the slimy Slytherin trio'. Obviously, based on the turn of events, people were starting to wonder if James was being honest when he claimed that Snape had told Lily to tell him that he was going to do things to the Marauders that made their pranks upon him look like child's play. Over the next half hour, Lily told Sabrina everything she knew, except for her suspicions as to Severus' reasons, or what he had told her about them. Sabrina's look of confusion, as time went on, morphed slowly into a look of understanding, which had Lily even more confused.

Suddenly Sabrina said, "Ah that explains it completely; no wonder Severus made that little declaration..."

Lily, even more confused, then asked irritably, annoyed at how what was clear to Sabrina was something that she couldn't understand at all, "Sabrina, could you please explain what the hell you are talking about!"

Sabrina smiled wickedly, then said, finger wagging in a "Ah-ah-ah!" sort of pattern, "Sorry Lily, but that is something that you will have to figure out on your own; you really should stop being so naive about situations like this, after all, you hang out with more Slytherins than I probably ever will, but I will tell you this. When was the last time you heard of Severus doing something that wasn't a win-win scenario? Its like his speciality!"

After Sabrin left, Lily was still confused, but then she started to think. 'OK, Sabrina says that whatever happens, it is a win-win scenario for him, but how can it be a win if Aduro somehow loses to the Marauders...?'

**Author's Note: **Ah, Severus' plot thickens, but what does he REALLY have planned? If anyone can figure out what this devious Slytherin has planned, then the value of their votes in the poll will **_TRIPLE_**, but its only for the first person to guess it correctly. You only get one guess, so take your best shot!

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:12

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):6

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56, Scarlette Letter 'cough')**

**_The Poll Will be Closed Come Chapter 25..._**


	23. Out of Control

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 23**

**Out of Control**

_I attacked the evil with all my strength, only to realize that I had become worse than what I was fighting..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_One Day Later Friday April 26th, 1975_**

"ARRGH!"

Lily groaned loudly as she continued pondering just exactly what Severus might be up to; she had been over what he had said and done nearly fifty times, and something still didn't add up right, which was REALLY bugging her. 'OK, let's review this one more time; Severus sent a owl to James, basically telling him he was free to cut loose, as was Sev, in another stupid prank war. In this owl, he insults James several times, obviously to make him feel like he was forced to accept the declaration, but why would Sev be interested in a prank war? He really has to know by now that I got plain furious at James for trying to bully him, so it definitely wouldn't be the way into my heart...at least, now that I know just how bad it is...'

Lily still felt ashamed at how she had acted in her original time-line with regards to the Severus-James battles, and how she hadn't even tried to understand Severus' perspective, instead calling his friends evil without any real proof, for if they were evil, then James and his crew had been nearly as bad. However, she had more important things to consider than guilt for her past life. 'OK, if those dreams are right, and that angel was correct about this world being in grave danger, then the path to obliteration has taken the first fork leading to an apocalypse. I need to have as much information as possible if I am to stop the next event from happening...' Lily figured that the first event was too late to stop, given that it had been greyed out in her dreams, so she decided to aim for the next part of the dream, the star which said impossible things, like calling itself white, when it was really red.

'OK, I don't know what Sev's motives are, but they are almost certainly very good ones; the problem is that, even if they are good, that doesn't mean they can't lead to a disaster.' Lily's mind was forcibly drawn to how she had completely bungled trying to save Severus in the first time-line, by forcing him onto the defensive and not even trying to understand why he might be interested in the Death Eaters. Her motives had, more or less, been pure, but that didn't mean that it didn't lead to something completely awful; every day she was questioning more and more if she and Severus might make a good couple, which, considering that James had been her husband in her past life, was quite impressive to say the least. 'If I hadn't gone about trying to save him completely the wrong way, would Severus and I have been together in the end?'

Trying to focus anew, Lily then tried to go through the logic again. 'OK, Sabrina claims that it is obvious and that it is win-win for Severus, but how can he planning to humiliate the Marauders regardless of what they do based on what he told me, and what has been going on? If the Marauders somehow win, wouldn't it humiliate him? And why would he tell me to tell James that he expects a very bloody battle, then do almost painless, if still humiliating...' She bit back a chuckle as she remembered the incident where Aduro had tied James to Dumbledore's seat in the Great Hall, then spelled him to look like Dumbledore. '...pranks?'

Lily then frowned for a moment; she had a feeling that the answer was right there, and she had just missed it. 'Wait a minute! Severus never actually said that HE planned on doing violent, bloody pranks, just that he expected them! Between that and the letter saying that there were no limits, he must have been trying to give James the excuses he wanted to attack him like that!' Lily smiled for a moment, until she remembered two things, first, that, even though she knew part of how he planned on humiliating James, she didn't know it completely; it was like knowing a joke, but not knowing the punch-line. The other thing was...

'Could those two stop touching each other! We are in bloody Potions class for crying out loud!' Lily knew intellectually that Severus and Mary weren't being too bad, in fact, they were being far better than Lily and James had been in the past, before Lily had started getting distracted by those bloody dreams and hadn't had the focus necessary for real romance. At least, that is what she was telling herself. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but twitch every time that Severus would hand Mary an ingrediant and just to happen to brush his hand against her's, or how he would put his arm around her when she was stirring, or that small smile he would give her every time that their potion did perfectly. 'Great, I get to watch my dreams, or nightmares rather, unfold before my very eyes! Severus Snape, stop putting your bloody hand in hers!'

Watching the future slowly implode before her eyes, Lily knew that, between the truly disgusting things she was witnessing, and the fact that she was trying to make a better version of the potion assigned to them both, while James chatted with Peter, who was at the table adjacent to their's, she no longer had the ability to focus on Severus' motives or objectives, but she swore to find out, right after Mary stopped whispering in Severus' ear, causing him to let out a short laugh...

* * *

**_Three Days Later Monday April 29th, 1975_**

Sirius groaned in frustration while reading _Hogwarts: A History _in the library; although he had been forced to stop preparing his epic prank on Severus during the couple of months when Lily had forced a cessation of hostilities between the Marauders and Snivellus, he was ecstatic when Severus had made his little declaration, until he had started reading up on Contract magic and the rules of Hogwarts. 'The stupid problem is that the contract doesn't care if I get caught or not, only if the act would merit an expulsion!'

The problem was that his little prank, similar to the incident back in early October, would merit an expulsion according to the rules system at Hogwarts, regardless of whether or not Dumbledore was able to find out or chose to expel him. 'Darn it! Apparently Snivellus didn't realize that it doesn't matter what the professors know or think, only what the bloody rules say!'

On the bright side, the prank, which was quite dangerous, even if Sirius figured he could prevent it from becoming lethal, was a win-win as long as he didn't get caught, as, even if Snivellus managed to get out completely unscathed, his friendship with Lily would be completely over. 'Normally I have to admit I wouldn't stoop this low, even for a greasy git like Snivellus, but I am gonna do whatever it takes to protect James and Lily from his inner rottenness...' Although, like most of the school by now, Sirius had heard of Snape's confession and Lily's rejection, he wasn't stupid; if it were as simple as her not being romantically attracted to him or interested in him, Lily wouldn't have needed so long to decide on a rejection, best friend or no. Plus, there were those looks that Lily would give whenever she saw them; looks of jealousy and anger.

'And then there are those other Gryffindor girls...' Although, to both his glee and sadness, Sabrina looked like she had basically given up on James, that just meant that there were other girls there, although some were a little pensive at the recent handling of Snivellus' groupies. Still, James was very popular in Gryffindor among the single ladies, and if Lily didn't watch out, then she might end up losing her boyfriend to one of the harpies, so it was really in her own best interest if she no longer had to worry about Snivelly as a possible boyfriend. Besides, it wouldn't have lasted anyway, unless he was somehow able to taint Lily with his evil, right? At least, that is what he tried to tell himself, doing his best to ignore any possible feelings of guilt.

Shuddering at that thought, Sirius was suddenly interrupted by Peter's nearly crashing into him; collecting himself, the third member of their merry little band of Snivellus hunters said giddily, "Hey Padfoot! Guess what!? Macdonald is out on the grounds by herself, and you know what that means..."

Perking up from his previously gloomy thoughts, Sirius grinned; although he was no longer in love with Macdonald, he was certainly ticked off at her. She had made him look like an idiot for Snivellus' sake after all, and had humiliated him for the 'crime' of trying to win her heart, then she had joined the bloody Slytherins and pranked all of Gryffindor for trying to protect her. "Indeed I do young Wormtail; we must march off to the field of battle and wage righteous war upon tainted ex-Gryffindor scum. Remember, we must strike swiftly, mightily and without mercy, for it is all that she deserves."

Peter chuckled, then said, grinning in an evil manner, identical to Sirius' own, "Yes Sir Padfoot, and I have been practicing, so we should be able to overwhelm her, even if she has access to Dark magic, thanks to old Snivelly..." Then he frowned a little, "...Hey Sirius, let's make sure we don't hurt her TOO badly. McGonagall has really started cutting into our house points, even though we are just pranking them..."

Sirius thought for a moment, then said calmly, "Eh, I suppose that McGonagall has gotten a little soft in her old age. Still, we should be fine unless we get caught in the act like last time."

Peter laughed nervously, then replied, "Yeah... I mean, it was only Snivellus, what's so bad about a couple of broken bones? Pomfrey can fix you up in a second if you get them anyway..."

Sirius shrugged, then the pair headed out towards the Hogwarts grounds...

* * *

"Ah..."

Mary sighed happily; everything about Severus' plan seemed to be going smoothly and the Marauders had walked right into it. Not only that, but they were doing it all on their own, without much of a need to provoke them; already they were starting to lose a lot of their good reputation with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and even some of the Gryffindors were becoming unsure about how brutal that their 'heroes' had become. 'In addition, even with that prejudiced witch McGonagall trying to avoid getting her little lion cubs punished too much, their house points are going down at such a rate that I keep expecting to hear a flushing noise.'

Of course, although the utter devastation of Gryffindor's chances was a plus, the true purpose of the plan was to humiliate the Marauders, and, as usual, Severus had come through brilliantly. 'Heehee! Its like the bloody hammer and anvil!' Mary remembered exactly how Severus had described the plan to her...

_Flashback Twenty-two Days ago Sunday April 7th, 1975:_

_"...In simple terms, here is my plan: after provoking the Marauders by making use of the letter, which will both insult and demean them, and make it clear that they can go all out, we will strike at them whenever forces are equal, which will likely lead to our victory every time that we fight, leaving them to only one option. They will have to only attack when they are outnumbering us, which, considering that they will think that it is safe to use any means necessary, will cause them to likely hurt us a lot."_

_Here Mary interjected, confused, "EXCUSE ME! But why do we WANT them to hurt us!?"_

_Looking at her, Severus sighed, clearly looking pained at the prospect of having to cause her harm, but said calmly, "It is to create the win-win scenario; if we allow them to attack us as they usually do, we will have to force them to surrender by conclusively winning every single fight, but if we do this, then they might still be humiliated. If they are excessive in their violence, although they will still be within school limits, they will likely become social pariahs, for it is one thing to watch someone being humiliated..." He grimaced at this, clearly remembering past torments, but continued unflinchingly, "...but it is quite another thing then they are really being hurt. That way, even if we are defeated in battles, we will still end up winning the 'war' because there is nothing that Potter and his crew care about more than their position ruling the school. Mind you, if you don't think that it is a cost worth paying to get them to go all out, then we can just try to defeat them in 'battle'."_

_Mary looked at the floor a moment, and then realized that Severus was willing to put his well-being on the line to protect her from those who would harm her withing Slytherin house. As such, shouldn't she be willing to do the same? She nodded her head slowly at Severus, who had been waiting pensively, but with patience..._

_End Flashback_

Although she had been expecting it to be quite painful, to her surprise, although it was, it was only a problem for a bit each time that they managed to catch her on her own, and then she would get herself to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey take care of it. Unfortunately, the Slytherin trio, although they had their opponents outmatched in any even match, were unable to land a conclusive strike, so it looked like Severus' back-up plan was coming in handy after all. Every single battle that the Marauders lost involved humiliation without pain, but the ones that they had won involved relatively gratuitous and violent attacks. 'Even if they win a battle, it will still hurt them in the long run. Although it seems like Potter might be starting to reconsider the violent attacks, it won't matter because of Black, who sees no reason to stop, and Pettigrew, who seems to enjoy helping him...'

She then thought about her relationship with Severus on its own, which caused her to start beaming; although if Lily made a move on Severus now, Mary would still bet on her, Mary was certainly getting closer and closer to the point where, even if Lily started fighting for Severus' heart with all her strength, it wouldn't matter, as things would have progressed beyond the point of Lily being able to change them. 'It serves her right! She has no right to get jealous like that after rejecting him! Well, I'll bet that she is regretting her choice now, but there are no take-backs in the game of love!'

Mary knew that she was being more than a little unfair, and that, in her own shoes, she would have likely had a difficult time as well, but she really, REALLY wanted to have Severus; over the past half-year, she had lost everything in Hogwarts that made it worth being there: her reputation, her position in Gryffindor, her friends, and she had no intention of losing Severus to Lily period, let alone if she was going to be wishy-washy about it, even if Lily was one of her two best friends, with the other being her undeclared boyfriend. As such, she had decided to fight a bit dirty, as Sabrina, after her birthday, had told her about James' knowing of Sirius' plan, but Mary agreed with her about not telling Lily, as, if Lily knew about James' actions, she would probably give him the boot and claim Severus right then and there.

'Even if I end up losing to Lily, I am not going to let her just win him after deciding that James isn't her type. Oh no...I am going to make a fight of it indeed!' Mary figured that, eventually, even if Lily never found out, she would realize that she wanted to try out Severus as more than just a friend, as James was, quite frankly, too arrogant and prejudiced to win out in the long run unless he changed somehow, especially considering that Severus had the 'best friend card' to play, keeping him in striking distance no matter how much James disliked it. As such, Mary was pretty sure that it was a matter of 'when' rather than 'if' Lily would try to win Severus over, and she was determined to, at the very least, make it a hard battle for Lily indeed.

Mary was still ruminating, when she was suddenly blasted into a nearby stone statue of a hump-backed witch, much to the laughter of Black...

* * *

Severus was calmly walking down the corridor, mentally noodling an idea for a new spell, a defensive one, not because he honestly believed that they were honestly better than Dark magic or because Lily wanted him to, but because she did have a point: there were dozens, if not hundreds of ways to curse someone with a simple line-of-effect spell, meaning that any new ones would likely be inventing the wheel unless they were extremely clever, like _sectumsempra_. 'However, a surprising defense can be just as effective as a surprising offence, and far easier to achieve... Let's see now... _contego cum umbra_ or _tego cum umbra? _Both have the same meaning I want I believe, but I can't be completely sure...'

Severus was still trying to figure out the proper latin wording for his spell, one designed to create a intangible wall of shadows that no-one but the caster could see through, making it extremely difficult for any opponents to aim their spells accurately, when he suddenly heard a scream coming from somewhere nearby on the third floor. Recognizing the voice to be Mary's, Severus sprinted in that direction, only to find her dueling with both Black and Pettigrew. Taking a moment to survey the fight before making his presence known, Severus noticed that Mary was leaning heavily against the hump-backed witch, probably because of a broken bone in her other leg, and both of the Marauders were using the doors to empty classrooms for cover, firing spells then ducking back behind the doors. Severus, realizing that he was behind both of the Marauders, then waited for Pettigrew to try casting another spell, before...

"HA HA! _LEVICORPUS!"_

_'Expelliarmus!'_

Mary just barely managed to block Pettigrew's spell with a quick _protego_ spell, non-verbally cast, but Pettigrew, taken completely unawares by a silent _expelliarmus_, was knocked into the door, while his wand was sent flying away, unfortunately, into the empty classroom which Pettigrew ducked behind. Still, it at least put him out of the fight for a bit, and when Black looked over at Pettigrew, shouting, then whirled to look at Severus, he had already fired his spell,

"Wha!? Wormtail! You OK!? Wait...SNIVELLUS!"

_'Aguamenti!'_

"I believe that the name is Severus..."

Black was unable to argue because of the jet of water that shot at him. Still, Severus heard him yell a quick _"Protego!"_, so he had doubts as to its effectiveness. Soon, battle was rejoined between the quartet; although normally Mary and Severus against Black and Pettigrew would be an easy win for the Slytherins, because of the fact Mary was unable to move from her position, and the doors the Marauders had between themselves and Mary, until Mary managed to blast the doors to splinters, which would likely take a bit considering the spells likely put on it, Severus was facing an effective two-on-one, and he was stuck in the open, without much in the way of cover unless he wanted them both to start blasting away at Mary again. 'Hmm, this could be quite the problem indeed...Nonetheless, I WILL NOT LOSE TO TOERAGS!'

Then Severus got an idea, pointing his wand at a spot just over and to the right of Black's head, he yelled, "Fine then Sirius, you dog! Try this! _REDUCTO!"_ Then, aiming a bit lower, shouted another _"REDUCTO!"_.

As expected, Black dodged easily, then shouted, "OOH! Trying to really hurt me I see! I'll bet that Lily won't be too thrilled!"

-CRASH-

"You? No, hinges? Yes!"

Black was puzzled for a moment, then Mary's _rictusempra _hit him in the back, as the door that Black had been hiding behind fell to the ground with, causing him to erupt into fits of laughter. It was looking like it would be yet another win for the day, until the _tarantellagra_ spell hit her, causing her to attempt to 'dance' with a broken leg...

* * *

James was thinking hard, deep in though about his conversation with Sabrina that he had just had; he hadn't been that interested in her, well, at least not until she had started avoiding him and looking at him with a glare, but he was completely confused. Why had she been warm to him one week, and then, all of a sudden, started treating him like wallpaper the next? That was the question he had wanted to pose to her, and she had responded calmly and coldly...

_Flashback:_

_"So Potter, you want to know why I've started treating you like scum? Well?"_

_James, feeling unsure, nonetheless nodded and awaited her response. With an expression of disappointment on her face, Sabrina said quietly, "You remember when Sirius was going out with me, solely to try and make Mary jealous...?" James nodded. "...Well, I was quite taken with how you had tried to make it up to me for Sirius' behavior, and how he took me, then left me in the cold once he found out that I couldn't help him win Mary, until I found out the truth..."_

_James, sweating nervously, asked, "The...truth?"_

_Sabrina then glared at him angrily, and said, "Yes Potter, the truth was that you had known about Sirius' intentions all along and didn't care about it, then you tried to buy me off on his behalf, while trying to make me think that it was from the goodness of your heart!"_

_James, desperately wondering how she had found out about him knowing, nonetheless said, "Hey! I did think that it was awful, and I did care about it! Why else do you think that I bought those dresses for you for the dance? I felt truly terrible about how Sirius had treated you, and wanted to make it up to you!"_

_Sabrina then let out a short, barking laugh, and said disbelievingly, "You know what? I think I finally understand why you and Remus are such good friends..."_

_James, confused, then asked, "What's Remus got to do with this?"_

_Sabrina looked at him pityingly, then said, "Simple, both of you know that what someone else is doing is wrong, but do nothing about it...No you're worse! At least Remus tries a little to get you guys to stop! You, you just stand there watching, then try to mollify the target after the fact! Frankly, I'm surprised that Lily is even remotely interested in a wanker like you, when she can have someone like Severus instead!"_

_James, bristling, almost shouted, "HA! Snivellus!? You think that the greasy git is BETTER than me!? All he is interested in is getting into some girl's pants before the slime from his hair drowns him. He is obsessed with the dark arts, pure-bloodism, and only uses the people he knows for his own freakish ends! I'll admit that he is quite good at wizardry, but he is still only about even with my friends and I, even with him making up the rules to his silly 'war'! How can you possibly say that he would be better for Lily than me in any real way!?"_

_Rather than getting angry in any way, Sabrina just started laughing; after nearly a minute of laughter, she finally choked out, "You complete idiot; if I had to go into the ways that SEVERUS is better than you, I would be at it for quite a while indeed, but this should be a good start: where you and Remus do little to stop others in your group, he actually succeeds in protecting others. Did you know that he saved my little brother from Avery before, and a couple of times after, the holiday break? What have you done? You LET Sirius take advantage of me! You LET Sirius try to humiliate Severus in front of every person in Hogwarts, only to have it turned back upon him! And you ARE LETTING Sirius cost you the whole, bloody 'war', while making you guys look like the fools you are with all of Hogwarts as a audience! Severus has played you from the start, and you have all walked right into it!"_

_Spluttering a moment, James then said, "Hey! We are winning as many battles as we lose! How can you say that the 'war' is any worse than a draw!?"_

_Sabrina chuckled, then replied, "The problem is: every time that you idiots lose a 'battle', Severus humiliates you, but without hurting you all in any real way, and he does it honorably, and with equal odds; when you 'win' a battle, you have to sneak attack him and his forces with superior odds, and your violent methods are making you look like brutal savages! Even when you win, it just makes you look worse! You have let Sirius go completely out of control, and all of Hogwarts is starting to think of you as bloody MONSTERS! Severus doesn't even have to win a fight for you idiots to lose completely! Now...if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be..."_

_As she walked briskly away, James stared back in disbelief..._

_End Flashback:_

'Is Sabrina right? Am I really being that awful? I mean, if Sabrina is right, then...' James shuddered; the most important thing to him after the Marauders and Lily was his reputation, and if Sabrina was right, then it was going up in flames with every single tussel that he had with Snivellus' little group of Slytherins. '...I really am caught between a rock and a hard place, aren't I?"

Suddenly, James was diverted from his thoughts by the sound of pained shrieking coming from high above him; he quickly rushed up, only to find that the shrieks were coming from the third floor, which, considering that he had been on the first floor when he first started hearing them, that was saying something indeed. As he rushed up, he, out of the corners of his eyes, noticed that most of Hogwarts was following him, until they came upon...

**Author's Notes: **I am unsurprised that no-one got Severus' plan, but considering that Mary's safety in Slytherin house was so important to him, I doubt he would have been willing to leave any loose ends when it came to protecting her, even if it would cause them a bit of pain, not much considering that I suspect that there would have been an expulsion or two if there had been any serious, permenent damage, but some.

I hope that it is understandable why Mary feels that 'anything goes' is fair when it comes to winning the heart of the person she loves most; she, through her own actions and those of others, has lost almost everything that was important to her back in October. As such, she is determined in the extreme to keep the few things that she feels she has left.

I am pleased to say that this is my longest chapter in any of my fics so far, and I hope that you enjoyed it, even if it is the prelude to a VERY dark section of the fanfic. May you all give me many interested reviews!

Here are the poll results so far:

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:12

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):7

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56, Scarlette Letter 'cough')**

**_The Poll Will be Closed Come Chapter 25..._**


	24. Regrets and Convictions

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 24**

**Regrets and Convictions**

_I was not defeated yet by any means, but I surrendered nonetheless..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**Monday April 29th, 1975**_

As James reached the third floor, he suddenly halted at the sight before him; it was as if he was about to walk into a religious ceremony or something, at least, that is what it felt like to him. Snape was standing by the hump-backed witch, cradling Macdonald in his arms, careful not to touch her legs, which had a dark red blotch all over part of the robes there, as he whispered quietly to her. As the rest of the school stood, like him, transfixed at the sight before them, Sirius and Peter hurtled out of the doors to a pair of classrooms, halting suddenly as the whole school stared at them.

As their footsteps echoed, Snape's eyes snapped up, and James was suddenly reminded of a conversation that he had had with Lily about a month ago, back when she was really focused on her 'get Sev and James to be friends!' kick.

_Flashback March 22nd, 1975:_

_"I'm sorry Lily..." James said laughing, "...but there is no way that you are going to make me believe that the gre...Severus, is capable of ANY good emotions, let alone showing them! I mean, it would be like McGonagall at a strip club!"_

_Lily snorted, apparently amused at the idea of the straight-laced McGonagall going anywhere...unseemly, but said, "Well, Sev certainly is capable of a lot of good emotions, although he hates talking about them..."At James' roll of the eyes, she laughed and said, "...James, I'm serious; I mean, you will almost never even hear him admitting to caring for someone, even as a friend..." She bit her lip then, troubled for a moment, then continued, "...but you can see it in his eyes. They really are quite expressive for being black in color..."_

_She had a wistful tone in her voice as she said that and, James, mildly curious even if he didn't believe it, said, "How can that be? I mean, all I ever see in them is...gittyness; I've known the bloke for four years now, and I haven't seen anything better than blankness or snarkiness when he looks at ANYONE, even you."_

_Lily only sighed, looking away for a moment, before speaking, clearly choosing her words carefully, "Severus hates having anything about his feelings known to anyone, so he builds this wall around himself of coldness, barbs, and pure snarkiness. Ever since...he hasn't let anyone get through that wall except for myself and Mary..." She seemed to pause for a moment, troubled, then continued, "...Unless you can get through this wall, you won't ever see anything about his feelings other than stuff that he feels safe showing: hate, anger, coldness, etc. Well, unless you get him really worked up you won't..."_

_James only shook his head in disbelief..._

_End Flashback:_

For just an instant, James saw, in Snape' eyes, worry, caring and fear, all mixed together and overflowing from his dark pupils, but then his eyes fastened on Sirius and Peter, and James, along with the rest of the crowd, took a step back in fear, for the look in his eyes... It wasn't that, if looks could kill, Sirius and Peter would be dead, but that it seemed to say "I would burn this world to the ground chasing you, just to have merely a moment where I can listen to you scream...". At that look, Peter cowered, backing up against the wall made by the edge of the crowd, while Sirius looked defiant, but still frightened, for Snape, rather than looking like some greasy slimeball, looked like an avatar of Wrath descended from the heavens to bring judgment down upon those who had sinned...

For a moment, it seemed like Snape was about to start cursing with every single spell he could think of, but a quiet voice stopped him, Macdonald whispering throatily, "Sev...It hurts..."

Again, James saw that look of caring, worry and fear in Snape's eyes for a split second, before he turned back to look at Macdonald and quietly said, just audible over where James was, "Shh, don't worry. Let me take you to the hospital wing..."

He made a motion with his wand, then picked up Macdonald easily, and started walking forward, attempting to reach the stairs, eyes focused entirely on her; as he walked, the crowd parted for him, still completely silent, and he walked toward the hospital, slowly so Macdonald wouldn't be jostled by the movements much. 'I'll never make that mistake again...'

* * *

Professor McGonagall looked at the two Gryffindors before her in disappointment; although she knew that she was hated by some for her general distrust of Slytherins, what these two had been so out of line that it was truly horrifying, and she knew that Godric Gryffindor would have turned his head away in shame if he had seen what these two members of his illustrious house had done. Sighing, she started speaking slowly, forcing herself to calm down, "To keep things straight, this was the chain of events, correct? You, Peter Pettigrew, saw Mary Macdonald walking alone outside, then went to get Sirius in order to 'prank her', then, taking advantage of her distraction, you followed her until you three were alone in the third floor corridor."

As the two nodded glumly, she then continued coldly, "Then, the two of you blasted her in the back, knocking her into the statue of a hump-backed witch and breaking her right leg, and then continued to attack her after she had already been wounded. Severus Snape happened to be passing by, and attempted to protect her by attacking the pair of you, bringing the situation to one where you were likely to meet defeat, only for you, Mr. Pettigrew, to hit Miss Macdonald in the leg with a _tarantellagra _spell, causing her to attempt to dance uncontrollably on a broken leg, exacerbrating the wound to the point that one of her bones was actually protruding from her skin, and necessitating her being brought to the hospital wing, where she needed several potions and Madam Pomfrey was at work all night on her. Is this sequence of events correct?"

Seeing the two about to attempt to defend themselves, and frankly, not in the mood for it, she said bitingly, "Don't speak. Only nod or shake your heads."

The two then nodded slowly, and McGonagall looked at them with her coldest, most furious glare that she had mustered in years, then said, in a voice that she hoped reminded the two of a winter blizzard, "I am more disappointed in the two of you than you can probably even dream of; the house of Gryffindor is the home of the brave and chivalrous, but what you two have done is make a mockery of the ideals of Godric Gryffindor that we all strive to emulate. You have attacked a fourteen year old girl in the back, then, upon breaking one or more of her bones, you continued to attempt to brutallize her. Afterward, when her comrade attempted to rescue her, in order to make your escape, you used a spell on her that would cause her incredible pain, and ended up causing severe physical harm to her. Please, explain to me what bravery you have demonstrated in this debacle? What chivalrous actions have you taken?"

As the two of them looked at each other, clearly thinking desperately, trying to come up with something, McGonagall continued, "You have cowardly attacked an opponent, with superior numbers, without even taking the time to come up with a rudimentary warning, brutallized her, then continued attacking when she was unable to seriously pose a threat to you, then attacked her so that you could flee into the night like a band of thieves caught by the town guard! In the past three hours, you have managed to disgrace Gryffindor more than any student has done in the PAST! TWENTY! YEARS!"

Sirius then said defiantly, "I didn't like it, and I thought that the _tarantellagra _was excessive, but it was necessary for us to win against Snape and his band of Death Eaters! I mean, Mary joined them too! If we lose this war, then Gryffindor will be humiliated!"

McGonagall looked at him for a moment in disbelief, then said scathingly, "If this is what it takes for you to win this so-called war of yours, I suggest you get straight to losing. Gryffindor has been humiliated far more by your methods than it could have possibly been by your honorable defeat, so I suggest you surrender with what grace you can still manage. Now, based on the sheer brutality of your little prank, I am forced to removed 100 points from each of you, and give you both detention for the remainder of term…" As the two boys opened their mouths, she said, "No discussions!"

Sirius and Peter then took a look at each other, and sullenly marched out of their head of house's office…

* * *

Severus watched Mary breathing slowly in a stunned horror; when he had set up this plan, he had known that the Marauders would be likely to push the envelope on the pranks that they would pull, but this was far in excess of what he had expected. According to Madam Pomfrey, Mary had been in danger of bleeding to death before she even arrived in the hospital wing; she could easily have died in Snape's arms on the way there, but she had been lucky, and had managed to survive long enough for Pomfrey to fix the wounds, and treat her. 'How could I have let this get so far?'

If it hadn't been for the fact that it showed just how far the Marauders were willing to go, Severus would have had good reason to be pleased at the outcome; every house other than Gryffindor was practically rioting, demanding Marauder blood, and even their fellow Gryffindors refused to be associated with Black or Pettigrew in any way. 'Ironic, I am on the brink of total victory, but…'

Lily sat right beside him, looking just as horrified as Severus felt, and said, "Severus, you have to call this 'war' off; Mary could have died… Please tell me what could have been possibly worth that!"

Severus looked around carefully, then, after realizing that there was no-one else nearby, said, "I needed to gain position within the Knighthood…"

Suddenly, Madam Pomfrey walked into their corner, and Severus immediately clammed up, wanting to keep what he was going to say private, then Pomfrey said, "Miss Evans dear, there is a James Potter here to see you; would you be interested in talking to him?"

Lily nodded, then said quietly as she walked out, "Let's discuss this later, without witnesses if you like; I want to make sure I understand the full story…"

**_

* * *

_**

**_The Next Day Tuesday April 30th, 1975_**

Sabrina listened to the whispers from the Gryffindors around her as she ate; they didn't do it around Lily, out of respect for her boyfriend, but Sabrina got the full blast of it, not that she minded particularly. Although she was still, much as she tried to deny it, attracted to James, which was why she gave him the blunt version, rather than the one he was likely hearing around him, which was relatively tame out of either liking the Marauders, or being afraid of them, she also knew that he had a ways to go before he would be mature enough for her to even consider giving him a chance.

Still, the gossip that was going around was probably better than Severus could have even dreamed of, although he didn't seem to care one whit about his plan at the moment, keeping himself, Mary and Avery together whenever they left Slytherin house, and stopping his attacks on the Marauders completely. 'That is easy to explain...why would he want to risk an incident like yesterday happening again? I mean, if he is as good a person as Lily and Mary claim he is, then he wouldn't want to chance that, even if it would help his plan, although he might avoid it anyway just to protect Mary.'

"I can't believe I ever admired a pack of wolves like those Marauders..."

"I know, I mean, I thought that Potter was smart, but it looks like that reckless fool Black is calling the shots..."

"Honestly, I never really liked them at all..."

"Yeah, I just pretended to as well..."

Sabrina chuckled, amused at how, in the space of 24 hours, the gossip hounds had gone from mildly disapproving, but still enamored with the Marauders, to pretending that they had never liked them in the first place. 'There should be a saying or two about situations like that...ah well, I suppose that I am one to talk...'

Just like the gossips she was laughing at, she had originally only liked James because of his 'cuteness', and his popularity, and how he had tried to help her after the Black incident, but she had started to really actually like him, partially because she personally thought that he might still be right about Severus. While he clearly cared a lot about Mary and Lily, after getting to know him, there was one thing that really worried her about him. 'Sometimes, when I am looking at him, I get the feeling that, in all honesty, he doesn't particularly care about good or evil so much...no, its not that, its more that he can't really see the difference between the two on his own. For all James' flaws, he at least knows the difference between good and evil, and he would never join Voldemort, something I can easily see Severus doing, especially now.'

In Sabrina's opinion, Severus' plan, and his objectives according to Mary, although he was doing it to protect Mary, he was allowing himself to be drawn deeper and deeper into the Knights, and eventually, the Death Eaters, and he didn't even seem to mind...

Suddenly, it seemed that all of the Great Hall had hushed down, as James Potter had walked up so that he was right in front of the Head table, then turned around and began speaking, teeth gritted in what appeared to be agony, "I am only going to say this once, so you all had better listen up..." He then glared at Severus in absolute hatred, humiliation, and loathing, before continuing, "Severus Snape! I, James Potter, am a complete, snivelling... coward..., and unfitting to even lick your boots! I surrender to you, got it!?"

There was a stillness and silence throughout all of the Great Hall, then Severus walked up to James and stood in front of him, saying nothing for a moment and simply looking at James' face as if he were trying to decipher it, and then said, "Very well then! I, Severus Snape, accept your surrender on behalf of your side!"

James then turned to walk past Severus, clearly too embarrassed and furious to even look in him after demeaning himself like that, but Severus seemed to say something quietly into his ear, which caused him to have an expression of complete shock and surprise on his face, then look over at the Slytherin table for a moment, before leaving the Great Hall. 'Not bad James...Not bad at all...'

* * *

As James Potter left the Great Hall, Dumbledore let out a small sigh, undetectable in the furor that erupted as soon as Mr. Potter had vacated the area. 'That is quite unfortunate; although the Marauders had their flaws, it was better with them operating than now...'

He wasn't particularly proud of his actions, but ever since Tom Riddle had started to reappear under his new name, and gather followers, he had taken some steps to try to keep the school as Death Eater free as possible; some of these steps included the obvious: preventing teachers who were possible Death Eaters from joining the staff, cracking down hard on the Knights' activities points-wise if they were anti-Muggleborn, etc., but some of the steps that he had taken weren't so obvious.

Dumbledore had foreseen that Voldemort would attempt to build a power-base amongst the students, in the form of the Knights of Walpurgis, and had attempted to encourage the formation of several competing power-bases within both Slytherin, and the other houses, so that those who might, in the future, fight against Voldemort wouldn't be scared away from that path while still in school.

Unfortunately, with the exception of the Marauders in Gryffindor, and a couple of minor groups in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, that plan hadn't gone particularly well, so he had focused a great deal of effort in keeping those particular groups as intact as possible, propping them up, so that the Knights wouldn't run rampant. 'I know that the Marauders have many, MANY flaws, but it is preferable to keep them in power, than to have the Knights take over, so to speak. While I suspect that Mr. Snape had many good reasons for wanting to demolish the Marauders, that doesn't stop his success from probably leading to major problems...'

Dumbledore sighed again, and lifted his glass for a moment, before saying mentally, 'A toast to the fall of the Marauders...'

* * *

**_One Week Later Tuesday May 7th, 1975_**

Lily waited for Severus to show up at their appointed spot nervously; she hadn't been able to make time to talk privately to him, or Mary, for a week after James' surrender. Although James had been hoping to get the whole school to forget about the incident, through surrendering, he hadn't been entirely successful; while there wasn't really any non-Slytherins mocking the Marauders anymore, everyone, even the Gryffindors, seemed to have forgotten the Marauders had ever existed, and nothing seemed able to change their minds on the matter. That meant that James had had to go overnight from 'hero' of the school, to just an average bloke, and, worse for him, he had to see Severus calmly walk into that spot, at least among the Slytherins, for his defeat of them. 'Luckily, Sev doesn't seem to be letting it get to his head, although Mary seems to be living it up a bit, not that I can blame her after what she suffered in Gryffindor...'

Ever since the official defeat of the Marauders, Mary had become quite the popular girl, something that she hadn't been acquainted with, even before she had made all of Gryffindor her enemy, and she seemed to greatly relish having people come up to her, trying to talk to her, although, admittedly, Lily had only really paid much attention to her because she was usually near Severus. 'Ironically, I always wanted Sev to make more friends, and now he has most of Slytherin, and even some members of other houses practically competing to be his friend...'

Lily was particularly proud though, of how Severus had reacted to this sudden influx of popularity; he hadn't become friends with any new people, apparently seeing through their sudden interest in him as easy as Lily had, but he hadn't been all that rude about it, and had been reasonably polite, even when dealing with people that Lily knew had hated him two weeks ago. Even though she was dealing with her boyfriend's sudden spate of sulking, mainly because, no matter what the time-line, there was nothing that James hated more than losing to Severus, Lily had still managed to find a great deal of time to say "hello" to him in the halls, or keep an eye on him during potions class, etc.

Unfortunately, in quite an annoying state of affairs, Lily had started smiling uncontrollably whenever Severus gave her his patented "This guy is an idiot" smirk, or said something which was sarcastic and mildly insulting, yet went right over the recipient's head. This wouldn't have been so bad, if it weren't for the girls who would then ask her, in the name of good gossip, what James had done to provoke such a reaction, causing her to stutter stupidly, as she couldn't respond honestly, causing them to give each other knowing glances and whisper things like "Huh, so James really IS as good as he says in the sack...", which she desperately hoped would never make its way back to Severus. 'I mean, its not like I have actually done anything with him...in this lifetime...'

Lily's thoughts were cut short as Severus then entered the room, clearly nervous about something, probably how she would react to what she heard when he had been cut off at the week prior; smiling both to disarm him, and because she was so glad about getting a chance to talk to him, she decided to cut right to the chase, "So...Sev, the last time we talked about your objectives, you were in the middle of saying...?"

Severus seemed to be interested in doing the same thing, as he immediately said nervously, although with a touch of relief audible, "I wanted to use the war with the Marauders to get higher up in the Knights, yes, but that is only a means to an end, really. I needed to get higher ranked so that I would have the power to protect Mary..."

Lily interrupted, worried for Mary's sake, "Protect Mary? Is she in trouble in there or something?"

Severus shook his head a little in wry amusement, "Lily...like you, she misunderstood what Slytherin is like..."

Lily waited for him to explain, curious as to what he meant, and he continued after seeming to think for a moment, "You see, there are two major factions within Slytherin, those who support the Knights, and those who either don't support it, or are flat-out against it, so when Mary joined the Knights and cost Slytherin 50 points as soon as she entered..."

Lily finished his thought, "The Knights' faction hated her for costing them points and being a Muggleborn, and those against them hated her for becoming a Knight and costing them points, making her a target for both sides..."

Severus merely said, "Exactly, and, as her unofficial boyfriend, I needed to do something about it, so I tried to get a higher rank to protect her within the Knights, although the Marauder's defeat made it unnecessary, at least for now. What is ironic, is that, if James hadn't surrendered then, I probably would have, as I was really working up the courage to do so, as you were right, its not worth her suffering like that."

Lily didn't really know what to think; there were three major competing factions trying to take ahold of her thoughts, the faction which was vastly relieved that Severus still seemed to not be very supportive of the Knights, and was merely using them as a means to an end, protecting Mary, and that he had been willing to surrender to James, just to protect Mary, the faction which was very worried that Severus might be getting too far into the Knights to be able to back out before it was too late, and the third faction, which she did her best to ignore, as she wasn't ACTUALLY fifteen years old, the immaturely jealous one which was screaming out "MINE! SEV IS MINE!". In the end, Lily settled for,

"Still, if it is unnecessary to protect her, and you haven't really changed your opinions on the upper ranks of the Death Eaters, so what's to stop you from leaving the Knights this summer as planned?"

Severus sighed, then said dismally, "Unfortunately, in that scenario, Mary would either be alone in the Knights, and she still isn't THAT much loved by them, or she would leave with me and become a target for them. Frankly, its beginning to look like we might have to wait until graduation to make our exit..."

Those were words that Lily really didn't want to hear, as she knew that it would be far too late for him to get out at that point, so she said desperately, "But Sev, based on what you told me, and what you know, they are evil! I mean, there might be some fallout, but wouldn't it be best to get out of a place that is evil like that before it is too late?"

Severus seemed to look away for a moment, then said softly, "I don't actually think they are evil. I mean, evil doesn't really exist after all..."

Lily's eyes raised up, almost of their own accord, then she asked, equally softly, "You don't actually believe that Sev, do you?"

Severus then looked at her and said, in a voice of honesty, conviction and sadness, "No I don't. From what I have seen, there is no good or evil, only power and influence, and those that you can protect or hurt with them. For me, protecting those other Muggleborns and such, plus you and Mary, is very important, but that doesn't make it good or evil, it just is. If Dumbledore and the Marauders were as good as everyone claimed they were, then why did they try to make my life hell? And if the Knights are so evil, then why did they befriend me when I had no friends, other than you? Each person has their own definition of good and evil, so that makes it impossible to say what is truly good or evil. I don't agree with what the Knights represent in some ways, but, for me, it would be evil to leave now, as that would cause harm to those I want to protect, and I don't want to risk that."

He then said angrily, "Besides, what would I turn to? The Ministry? They allowed my father to abuse my mother until she finally died, Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix? I would rather cut off my own leg and eat it before joining any group where the Marauders were considered good, and there is no real other option other than the Death Eaters, unless I want to be caught in the crossfire."

Lily then asked quietly, "My idea of getting you and James to become friends...its never going to happen is it?"

Severus chuckled a little, then said, "Not a chance in hell, but that doesn't mean I am going to let that stay in the way of our friendship."

Lily then looked into Severus' eyes and asked, pleading with her own eyes, which were starting to fill with tears after his sad confession, "If I joined the Order, and I asked you to join too, do you think that you might join?"

Severus stared into her eyes, making her blush with the intensity he had in his own, then said, voice slightly thick with emotion, "I think, if it were really THAT important to you, Lily, I might be persuaded to do that, but I would still hate it very much indeed..."

Lily beamed, then gave him a hug, before saying, right into his ear, "Thanks Sev, trust me when I say that it would mean the world to me..."

-RUMBLE-

For a moment, there was complete silence as both of them stopped and looked down at Lily's offending stomach, then the two both burst out laughing, the tension draining away. After a laugh which was, for him, quite extended indeed, Severus then said, "You know Lily, I think that your stomach might agree with you, but it is far more interested in the fact that we are late to dinner..."

Embarrassed, Lily then grabbed his hand and said "Shut up Sev!", before leading him towards the Great Hall...

**Author's Notes: **I don't know about you all, but I am VERY glad that I have gotten the chance to post this finally, after the issues plagueing the login screen the past few days. I know that it might be a little out of place, but I couldn't resist the chance to post a little bit of fluff at the end of the chapter.

As for Severus' little monologue, when Severus thinks of good, I am almost certain that he only thinks of the good that he can do for those he cares about, rather than good as a whole. He has suffered through too much in his life to be able to waste much time thinking about those outside of his close circle, but is willing to do whatever it takes to protect them. He doesn't really believe that a person can be good or evil, but rather that they can do good or bad things. Unfortunately, that line of thinking has never seen a monster like Voldemort...

Unfortunately, if you thought that things were bad, the story is going to take a very dark turn indeed within the next few chapters, so be ready for hell to begin for our beloved characters. What does the 'Lying Star' in Lily's vision have in store for them?

I must add, to my surprise, I believe that this chaper is even longer than the previous one. Who woulda thunk it?

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:12

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):10

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0

**Just so you know, you may vote for up to two different possibilities, but you cannot vote for the same possibility twice ('cough' naruto56, Scarlette Letter 'cough')**

**_The Poll Will be Closed Come Chapter 25..._**


	25. The Seeds of an Apocalypse Sown

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 25**

**The Seeds of an Apocalypse Sown**

_I care not for their friendship, save that it can be used to hurt him..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**Ten Days Later Friday May 17th, 1975**_

Sirius was getting extremely tired of the situation; it had been nearly three weeks since the incident in front of the hump-backed witch, and everyone was STILL doing their best to brown-nose that slimy Snivellus. Frankly, it was disgusting, and it burned every time he had to go into the Great Hall and see Snape, Macdonald and, to a lesser extent, Avery, having to beat off well-wishers and, depending on whether it was Snape or Macdonald, girls or boys interested in making the Slytherin their own, with a bloody stick. 'Ick! I mean, the situation is all Snivellus' fault to begin with! How can they not see that he doesn't deserve their interest, when a far superior man is around, ME!'

What hurt the most was how, seemingly overnight, he had gone from one of the best students in the eyes of his teachers and fellow students, to something just under week-old vomit, for, as much as James hated how he had become a near non-entity, Sirius' situation was far worse off. Ever since that incident, which, although he hadn't done it, he could see why Peter had felt it necessary to use that spell as a distraction, Sirius had become a social pariah, and the howler he had just received from his mum yesterday, yelling about how he was a disgrace to the house of Black, certainly hadn't helped matters...

He could still remember the words now, and, more importantly, the laughter from all of his fellow students as he had gotten chewed out by his mother by mail. The only thing more mortifying to him was that James, without consulting with him, had surrendered to Snape on his behalf, saying that he wasn't fit to lick his boots. 'Argh, I know that Prongs can be a bleeding heart sometimes, but couldn't he see that we were winning? I mean, if it weren't for his surrender, I'll bet that we would have forced Snivellus to surrender by now! Even though he had us in combat skill, more or less, on the ropes, I could see him cracking! He would have surrendered rather than let the situation continue!'

He sighed, trying to force away his anger and nausea at watching two GRYFFINDOR fifth-years flirting with Snape, and tried to look on the bright side of things. 'At least there is one silver lining in this massive mess; since the contract no longer applies, that means that the prank of the century can be done as soon as the situation presents itself. Still though, although I could do it now, its probably best to wait a while for maximum effect...'

He smirked then, happy at one thing he had figured out about his plan. 'The best part is that, as long as I prepare a couple of little precautions in the stuff needed, there is no way to actually prove that it was me! Even if they believe that it was, there is no way to prove that SHE wasn't responsible!'

Finally, he laughed aloud for effect, 'James, Lily, in a couple of months, you are going to want to thank me on bended knee! I will be the one to singlehandily protect your relationship, and get rid of the greasy git as a factor!'

* * *

**_One Week Later Friday May 24th, 1975_**

'Hmm, this is far more than a little frustrating...' Severus was very annoyed with himself and his indecisiveness; the problem was, he and Mary had been going out for a couple of months now, and he had 'officially' become her boyfriend, and he was even going so far as to consider telling her that he actually loved her. '...it is the truth, but it is only a shade of the truth...'

While Severus knew that it was standard to tell women that you loved them after a certain point in a relationship, if you had that sort of feeling for them, which he had no problem admitting to himself was the case, but there was a wrinkle in the parchment: he knew that he loved Lily too. 'OK, let's see now, when I think of Mary, my blood burns, when I am near her, my mind starts to catch fire, when I touch her, I forget everything about the world around me; it could all burst into flames and I wouldn't care simply because she is beside me. I most certainly love her, and yet...'

Indeed, Severus knew that, if it was necessary, he would probably die for her, and, if he were any other boy in love with a girl the same way, it would be extremely simple to tell her that he loved her, as he could tell that his feelings for her were far in excess of the baseline requirements of saying so. However, again, there was still one big problem, his love for Lily, and the fact that, as much as he loved Mary, maybe, just maybe close to, or as much as he loved Lily, he knew that it wasn't possible that he loved Mary more, and that was the thing. For Mary, his love was like fire, complex, blazing, wild, and he could sense a commonality between the two of them, in both reasons and motives that was incredible; he could think of a hundred reasons why he loved her, and he was sure that that was the case.

But for all of the complexities of his feelings for Mary, his feelings for Lily were simple; his love for Lily was like light itself, simple, illuminating, calm, she had a whole different series of commonalities with him; where Mary made him feel like he was burning, Lily made him feel like he was shining brightly, where Mary was able to talk to him and help him work even quicker on his attack spells (Thanks to her help, he was able to alter the _sectumsempra_ spell to be even more destructive, for, with her expertise in transfiguration, she helped him realize that, based on the consistency of human skin, several extremely thin slices could be even more destructive than one giant slash, as the combined blasts would have the same width, but be far sharper), Lily's assistance was truly incredible when it came to helping him work on more common or defensive spells, as even the teachers in her Charms and Defense against the Dark Arts classes were in awe at some of her feats and ideas.

His best moment with Mary that he could remember, and that seemed to have shown all his feelings for her in a nutshell, was a week ago when the two of them had been kissing in the classroom that he, Mary and Lily always used for studying, making him burn every time her lips touched hers, after they had finished all of their assignments, when suddenly her eyes seemed to light up, and she had seemed to glow as she told him of the breakthrough she had just had, for by thinking of the skin that they had been touching with, she had come up with an idea for a varient of the _confringo_ spell, which would penetrate just inside of the target's skin before exploding, increasing the damaging potential greatly. Although she made it clear that they would only use it on the truly deserving, her excitement at coming up with a new idea was palpable, and he felt like his thoughts were positively ablaze.

In contrast, one his better moments with Lily that in the past few months that he could remember had been, after their conversation a couple of weeks back, when they were going to dinner, and Lily had said that, even if he didn't believe in good and evil, she would always believe in him, and HIS goodness, with a sincere smile and beaming eyes. When she had said that, he had felt like a human-shaped star, shining brightly, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, she was right about there being a good, for he thought he could feel it in that particular moment.

He had hundreds, perhaps a thousand reasons why he loved Mary, but with Lily, it was really quite simple: although he hated showing his feelings when it wasn't necessary, he knew that, if he were to show his feelings verbally and without shame, saying that he loved Lily would be like saying he was alive, breathing, and his heart was beating. If he put his mind to it, he could easily find hundreds, no, thousands of reasons that he loved Lily, but he knew, in his heart of hearts, that he didn't need them. He just loved her, and he no longer even cared what the reasons were, for they didn't matter.

That was his problem, while he did love Mary greatly, as long as he loved Lily as much as he did, it would always feel like it was a lie if he told Mary "I love you"...

**_

* * *

_**

**_Nine Days Later Sunday June 2nd, 1975_**

-SIGH-

Lily looked at the ceiling sadly, for she was getting more and more worried by the day, and that dream was occuring more and more frequently, and it was terrifying her, as she truly hated watching her two best friends in the world merely watching each other as death emanated from them, destroying all life and ending the world. 'Maybe I somehow prevented this 'Lying Star's' plans...Maybe I am worried for nothing...Maybe pigs can fly...normal pigs that is...'

Her primary objective from the beginning hadn't changed one iota; she was going to keep Severus as her best friend, come hell or high water, and that was all there was to it. As such, she was truly terrified of this dream coming to pass, and she was going to do whatever it took to prevent that from happening, as it would positively destroy her if things turned out that way. Lily then frowned after completing that thought. 'No, that isn't quite accurate, for my objective has changed now that I think of it. I am going to keep Severus AT THE LEAST as my best friend, come hell or high water; that is my primary objective...'

While for some reason, James had stopped insulting Severus at all, or being annoyed by her spending time with him, over the past month or so, she was starting to dread spending time with Severus very much indeed...or rather, spending time with him and Mary. It wasn't that she was angry at them, or that they were rubbing it in her face in any way, although she doubted that Severus would have noticed if he was, given that he seemed to think that she had no feelings whatsoever for him, based on her rejection of him, but every small smile from Severus or touch of their hands that she saw was making her feel like she was a jealous teenage girl again, and she hated feeling that way... even though she was one technically speaking.

'I know that I should be satisfied; I mean, I know that I will eventually come to love James like I did in the past, and that should be all that matters, but, honestly, I am not satisfied, for it feels far too much like settling for some reason...' Lily then sighed, for she knew exactly what the reason was, for all that she loved HER James from the previous time-line, this one just wasn't him. HER James had grown up and begun to understand how much others could be hurt by his arrogance, even if he sometimes forgot; he had learned that there was more to life than just himself and his wants, and she had grown to love him very much, but this James still didn't get that other people really existed. While this one always tried to do the right thing, the problem was he was trying to do HIS definition of what was right, which had no room for people like Severus or Mary, who didn't fit his definition. In sum, the James of today, just wasn't someone she could love today.

In contrast, when she thought about Severus, she had to bring to mind a strange conversation that she had had with her James about a month or two before they both died; in that conversation, James had suddenly asked, being completely serious, if, if Severus hadn't really been evil, would she have fallen for him. After a minute's thought, she had spoken honestly and said that, if he hadn't been evil, and hadn't been dark, then yes, she probably would have fallen for him. 'What was strangest about that conversation was that crushed look on James' face when i said that... I mean, Severus had clearly forgotten about me ages ago, and I was already married to James, so what had it mattered?'

Bringing her mind back on topic, she sighed, for, just like before, she knew that her friendship with Severus had always been more important to her than it had been to him, for, in this time-line, he clearly had grown to love Mary, while Lily had fallen for him, and in the past time-line... Sometimes, during her sixth and seventh years, she had caught herself wondering if she had really made the right decision by giving up on their friendship, and had considered going up to Severus and asking him if they could be friends again, but when did, she remembered how, after she had cut ties with her, he had avoided her completely and, whenever she walked into the room and he couldn't get away, he looked like her presence caused her physical pain, which made her realize that he had clearly given up on her, and indeed, grown to hate her, while she had secretly mourned the end of their friendship for the rest of her life, sometimes wondering if, had she done something different, maybe it wouldn't have ended quite the way it had. As such, it had been almost seemed a wish come true when the angel had made her its offer.

This made her falling for Severus even more painful, for she knew, in her heart of hearts, that he didn't care about her anywhere near as much as she cared about him, unlike James who had, after getting past his boyhood crush, grown to love her with everything he had, and with all his heart. 'What should I do? Do I go for it and try to win him? Or continue as planned and stay with the man who will eventually be someone I can love? No matter how much I love him, is it worth it if Sev doesn't love me back as much as I love him? Maybe I would be better off just sticking with James...'

* * *

**_Eight Days Later Monday June 10th, 1975_**

"No Sev, no matter how much you hate Potter, you have to admit that he IS better than any of the Ravenclaw chasers!"

"I refuse to admit anything. However, I will concede that the Ravenclaw chasers are indeed, quite pathetic, so you MAY be right."

-SIGH-

"Sev..."

"Yes Lily?"

"You're IMPOSSIBLE!"

Mary sighed happily, sitting on Severus' left side, as the three of them watched the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game together. While, quite frankly, she had no particular desire to watch Gryffindor win, she knew that, if they DID win, then there would be no-one who could beat Slytherin for the House cup, as Gryffindor had basically zero chance, Hufflepuff didn't have the talented students, and Slytherin had a fairly large lead over Ravenclaw, so if Gryffindor won, it would be an easy victory for Slytherin in the end.

Most of all though, Mary was simply enjoying spending time with her two best friends, one of which was her boyfriend. Listening to Lily and Severus laughing together was great, and the spark in Severus' eyes that came from spending time with the two people she knew he cared about most was beautiful. Sadly, Mary was pretty sure that all hell would be breaking loose soon; she could see that, while Lily and James SEEMED to be doing just great, Lily really didn't seem to care THAT much about them anymore, for Sabrina had started flirting and talking with James again, and Lily hadn't even seemed to notice, but whenever Mary was to kiss Severus or hold hands with him, her eyes would flash for a moment, and she seemed to be visibly in pain, causing Mary's heart to go out to her, but she wasn't going to give up on Severus.

'If Lily wants to steal Sev after all this time, she had better come prepared, for she is going to be in for quite a fight!' Mary knew that, although Severus' feelings for Lily hadn't shown any signs of going away, she was still in an excellent position, for Lily had been waiting and debating for far too long. Severus wouldn't just up and break up with her anymore, not even for Lily, so she felt that she had a good chance of blunting Lily's assault until she gave up, and, if she didn't, then maybe, just maybe, Mary might be willing to stand aside, as it would prove to her that Lily might indeed deserve Severus. Still, Mary wasn't going to give up until the fat lady...and not the one on the poster to Gryffindor tower, were to sing.

"HA-HAHA-HA!"

"Sev, stop laughing at James! Even if it is funny to...oh to hell with it!"

Glancing back at the game, Mary smirked as she saw that James had, somehow, been struck by a bludger so hard and so perfectly, that his broom had flown straight into the ground like an arrow and was now stuck there. 'Ah, life is good right now...'

Mary glanced at Severus' laughing face, and ruminated a little about why she had fallen for him. Although he had some looks, he wasn't what most would call handsome, but she hadn't fallen for him for that, or Black probably wouldn't have even needed to try to make her jealous to win her. She had fallen for him, because he had seen all that she was capable of, her darkest self that she tried to keep locked away, at least until her anger made it erupt again, but he hadn't minded it in the slightest. Until she had met him, she had always been afraid that, if she had shown her true self, it would make everyone around her turn away in revulsion, but he hadn't cared, for he understood how everyone had their own dark side, and he hadn't minded hers.

'He made me feel...like I didn't have to be a shining beacon of the light, but rather, as long as I was to be myself, good and evil mixed together, that I would be beautiful...' She remembered how, back in grade school, she had had a crush on this boy who was the target of bullies, and, using her wits and the element of surprise, she had managed to protect him by beating up all of the bullies, but, later that day, she had heard him talking with this other girl, and he had told that girl "I don't want to be friends with Mary. She scares me! Even worse than those bullies!", causing Mary to be utterly crushed. Severus was different though, for he didn't run away from her, even though she had her mean streak.

'Even if it is fighting against my other best friend over a guy, I don't care, because Severus is worth it to me!' All the same though, she didn't enjoy the prospect, and hoped, for the sake of their friendship, that it wouldn't come to a fight...

* * *

**_Ten Days Later Thursday June 20th, 1975_**

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell! OH HELL!"

James had just realized how fragile that his relationship with Lily Evans had become; although, periodically, Sirius would point out that Lily spent more time with Snape than with him, he had always pointed out that the two of them spent plenty of time together, and, after hearing from Snape the reason that he had started the whole war in the first place, he hadn't the heart to get angry with him, as a lot of it had been his own fault, not keeping Sirius under control. 'As Sabrina said, I had let us all become monsters by sitting around and letting Sirius go more and more out of control in his attempts to beat Snape. I may hate Snape's guts for many things, not the least making it possible for that debacle to happen, but he just gave us the rope, while WE tied the noose around our necks and kicked the stool out from under our feet. We just self-destructed in our attempts to win, and handed Snape the prize on a bloody silver platter...'

However, much as he had been agonizing over that incident, it wasn't what had made James realize how weak his relationship with Lily had become, but rather Sabrina. After the incident, Sabrina had given up on her vendetta...against him at least, although Sirius was still fair game, for she felt that he had redeemed himself by conceding to Snape like he had, and had started talking and flirting with him again. He hadn't really stopped her, as, after his humiliation, it was a definite boon to his confidence to have a pretty girl chasing after him again, but he realized today that he had let things go too far, as, like the two of them had started doing, they had been hanging out by the lake talking about stuff like their futures, and what they hoped to do to stop Voldemort, and stuff like that, when she had suddenly kissed him.

Rather than pushing her away, as he KNEW that he should have, he hadn't stopped her, and had even responded, for nearly a minute forgetting that he even had a girlfriend. It wasn't until she had pulled him in close to her that he remembered that this wasn't Lily, and he wasn't dating Sabrina. He had left in a hurry, while she had stood there, rather amused at his state of panic, then he went over to Sirius, begging him for help. While Sirius had made mistakes in the past, he was generally accepted amongst the Marauders as the best at dealing with women, as he had been with a good few of them, both in school and during Summer breaks.

Sirius, after a sigh of exasperation and a minute's thought, had told him to take Lily on a romantic getaway to Hogsmeade the Sunday after exams, as, that way, if they had had to resort to make-up sex, they would have all night to do it, as curfew wouldn't matter if it was the day before they left Hogwarts on the train; also he had warned James that it was better to keep things private about his little mistake until they had been forgotten about by all parties, lest Lily find out and break up with him in her anger.

His thoughts interrupted as by the sight of Lily, James quickly made a beeline over to his girlfriend, then said to her, "Lily, I know that this is sudden, but would you mind going with me to Hogsmeade next Sunday? I've been thinking, and I think that we need some time to ourselves, and a romantic getaway would be perfect for it, don't you think?"

Lily looked at him doubtfully, saying, "I don't know James, although you can hardly call next week 'sudden', I don't think that it sounds like a good idea... I mean, we will have a lot of packing that night and all..."

James then looked at her with pleading eyes, and said, "Please Lily, do it for me..."

She looked back at him, seeming to think for a bit, then said, "I don't know, but if its really that important to you, I suppose it can't hurt too much..."

**Author's Note: **It may seem that things have moved awfully fast in this chapter in terms of days, but the principle players needed the time for their feelings to gel. This isn't too sad or happy, but rather a bit of a expository chapter, as, with the exception of Mary and Sirius, all of the principle parties are starting to have doubts.

Just to be clear, I don't think that Mary is evil, although, as this chapter shows, she certainly has her dark side. For those of you who have been wondering what I meant by my PM's, this is the misconception that Lily is laboring under: she doesn't know anywhere near how deeply that Severus felt for her, as she misinterpreted Severus' pain, thinking that it was because he hated being in her presence because he no longer liked her, when it was really that he hated being in the presence he loved more than his own life, but couldn't have. She has yet to find out, as she still has no idea what Severus did in the original time-line to try and protect her and, to a lesser extent, Harry and James.

For those of you who are happy that Lily has, more or less, 'come to her senses' however, I have bad news incoming, for the next chapter is where Lily/Severus WAFF goes to die, screaming, then get eaten by buzzards. So if you are hoping for things to go well for our time-crossed pairing, you are likely going to want to cry...or kill me.

**Pairing Results: **While Lily/Severus alone has officially won, I decided a while back that this wouldn't be the only vote; Basically, the top three will win, and, later on in the fic, both will have their chance to win in a final battle. Think of it as a Round-Robin, with the top three winning, going on to face each other in the final voting. (The other reason is that my poll on my profile finally started working, but I was unable to distinguish between voters on it, meaning a fair number of people who voted, didn't get a chance to get their vote counted on the in-chapter poll, plus I frankly want to keep all of you guessing=))

Final Poll results!

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:16

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):10

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:1

Severus and Lily end up together, but Lily dies, causing Mary to win in the long run, although that point will be after the point which I am writing:0


	26. The End of a Friendship

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 26**

**The End of a Friendship**

_I was so desperate to avoid losing him, so how was it I ended having lost him...?_

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**Ten Days Later Sunday June 30th, 1975**_

Lily swallowed heavily, incredibly nervous as she prepared to go on her date with James as agreed; when she had agreed to the date, she had been thinking carefully about her feelings for James and Severus, and had come to a conclusion after long and careful consideration, that she would continue dating James as planned, and do her best to keep in control of herself. 'I can't risk losing Sev, I just can't, and I won't do anything that would risk that, period. Moreover, would Mary ever understand or forgive me if I tried to steal Severus from her? What if she wouldn't let Severus and I stay friends anymore? I couldn't bear that!'

She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror; after more than twenty years, she had had a great deal of practice in the art of primping, and she looked positively beautiful, and she knew it. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle, and her face looked like it was ready to laugh at any moment, or at least it would if she hadn't been feeling so depressed, for, as it was, it looked like she had prepared a costume for a Halloween party, a mere semblance of how she wanted to appear.

She could just picture Severus laughing dryly at her moping countenance, and, for a moment, she smiled as she pictured him at her side, saying "Lily, I do believe that you have gone quite mad, if you think that demonstrating your misery to Potter will make this date with him go better. Of course, the toerag probably wouldn't even notice anyway, so maybe it won't be a problem after all!", but then she felt even more depressed, for that showed one of the main problems with her relationship with the current James; he simply didn't understand her and her feelings as well as Severus did, past, present or future. Although Severus had never cared about her as much as James had ended up caring for her, he just had this knack for understanding her, and Mary now as well, that few could match.

'Of course, that only ends up getting more and more depressing... He may not be perfect, and might miss quite a few things himself, but he has a gift for noticing when either of the two of us are unhappy that, even in the other time-line, James was unable to match, and he's Mary's now, and, even if he wasn't, I don't know if I would be willing to risk our friendship anyways. Why couldn't I have figured this out in the previous time-line? I wouldn't have had the bad luck of knowing that I don't really mean that much to him when it comes down to it, and I might have even been happy not knowing. Maybe I could have even gotten him to fall for me as much as I would have for him...'

Lily then started to get angry at herself; she had never been the type of person to sit and mope for something she couldn't have, and she knew that, in the end it would all be worth it. She would end up falling in love with a James who would become very much like her own, Severus would end up happily married to Mary, and, most importantly of all, she would be able to stay friends with Severus forever, and she knew that, in the end, that would be enough for her.

'After losing him as my friend the past time around, just keeping him as my best friend and out of the Death Eaters would be like a small dream come true...' She pictured the four of them, James, Mary, herself and Severus, in the future, with the war having ended. Although maybe James and Severus would never become friends, she was sure that James wouldn't mind her spending time with her best friend, and maybe her son, who like last time would likely be named Harry, like James had prefered, would spend time with her and her best friend, learning the 'subtle science and exact art of potion-making', as Severus liked to say, and he would smile that thin smile, with her with her beaming one, and they would laugh as Harry tried to mix a basic potion, a prodigy like the two of them, at the age of maybe five or six.

Although Lily suspected that it would be like receiving a silver medal at the Olympics rather than a gold one, what she would be risking would be great, and with no guarentee of receiving anything close to what she would be giving up. Lily knew that she would be willing to sacrifice her friendship with Mary, and even her future with James if it came down to it, but she wasn't sure that she would be willing to risk her friendship with Severus, and that was what kept her from taking the plunge, along with her knowledge that he never cared for her as much as she did for him. 'It just isn't worth it...'

In the future, Lily, much like Severus in another time-line, would come to dearly regret her choice made in fear, as she walked out of her dorm for her date with James, but by then it would be far too late...

* * *

Sabrina watched James and Lily leave the Gryffindor dorms, barely unable to suppress her tears; she certainly felt guilty for trying to lead James to cheat on his girlfriend, but Sabrina hated the idea of being rejected for a girl who clearly didn't care all that much for the idea of being with James, as she had completely ignored Sabrina's not-so-subtle advances upon her boyfriend over the course of nearly two months.

Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind her, and Black said quietly, "You should have known that your scheming to steal him from her would be pointless; he loves Lily with all of his heart and soul, and she loves him. Why not give up? It would be so much easier if you just went with me. I mean, I know that I made a mistake, but I am really sorry about it; I really shouldn't have tried to take advantage of you like that, and I am sorry I did..."

Sabrina, without even looking back at him, said aloud, almost talking to herself, "Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't, but you don't understand what love is Black. He may regret what he did, and he may be trying to fix it, but I haven't seen anything from him that reminds me of what my parents felt for each other, just another crush. Besides, she clearly doesn't appreciate him, and seems to have her eye on Severus now, so I doubt it matters too much how he feels at all..."

Black barked out a laugh, then said disbelievingly, "SNIVELLUS!? Even IF she actually has feelings for that piece of slime, that is just because she hasn't got her priorities straight! Once she understands how little a Muggleborn like her matters to future-Death Eater scum like him, she will go running back into James' arms. I mean, all that junk about him nowadays is just because he is messing with everybody's minds, not because he is as great as he pretends to be, or even good at all!"

Sabrina finally looked back at him, glaring, then said, "Black, your prejudice and lack of understanding got old months ago. I will admit that Severus is quite likely to go dark, and may end up being my enemy if I were to join the order, but you are being positively idiotic if you think that Lily means little to him. I admittedly wouldn't trust my life in his hands, but if I were Lily or Mary, I would be willing to walk off a cliff if he thought it were necessary, as I could easily see him dying for them, considering how he is clearly willing to do anything for them."

Black rolled his eyes, and said confidently, "Trust me Sabrina, its all just an act, you'll see, and I'll bet that Lily will soon as well."

As she walked away, annoyed and worried, both about Black and her chances with James, Sabrina said coolly, "There is a big difference between an act, and showing someone how you feel through your actions. Frankly Black, you are more of an actor than Severus ever will be..."

* * *

James kept smiling nervously; on the bright side, the date had gone quite well so far, but he knew that he had a bit of a ways to go before he would feel comfortable enough telling Lily about his kiss with Sabrina. He had dressed his best, as had Lily apparently, as she looked beautiful in a green silk dress, which matched her eyes perfectly, and called attention to her bust, which, although not the most impressive, wasn't awful by any means either.

Swallowing as the two of them ate a nice dinner of roast beef, which he had ordered for the two of them ahead of time to be romantic, and because he couldn't remember if she had told him that she loved her steak rare or well-done, James then said, "So Lily, how do you feel that you did on exams this year?"

Lily swallowed a bite of her food, dabbing at her cheek lightly to remove a bit of meat-juice that had gotten away, then said with a smile that seemed slightly odd for some reason, "Well James, I know that I at least did well; I mean, I know that Quidditch is important, but you really should have been studying. I mean, the last game of the year finished more than a week before exams began..."

James chuckled weakly, saying, "Hey! I knew that I was going to do well on exams, so I decided to get a head start on the next year. After all, although we won the Quidditch cup, we were crushed in the House cup by Slytherin you know, and if we had more points from Quidditch, then maybe we would have made a better showing..."

Lily's eyes seemed to flash, perhaps with amusement, but James suspected that it might be annoyance, then she said slowly, "You know James, if you and Sirius hadn't gotten into that massive 'war' with Severus, then maybe it wouldn't have been too bad. We lost a LOT of points there after all, yet Slytherin barely lost any..."

Not wanting to discuss it, as he already felt pathetic about that particular incident, considering that Snape had only used them, in his words, 'Because it was between you and being forced to hurt Muggleborns like Lily if I wanted to get the influence to keep Mary safe. Frankly, better hurting you than them...', James only shrugged, as what Snape had said still made him feel weird.

Sure, it had been rude and snarky in standard Snivellus style, but Snape had only been trying to keep Mary safe, and he had given them the chance to defeat him in honorable combat... 'Which we blew completely, making us look worse than Death Eaters, like we were Slytherins...'

The two of them continued talking, but James could feel that it wasn't going too greatly, so he decided to try his trump card, as Sirius had said, because he had the feeling that tonight was going to be a bit of a 'make or break' situation. As such, when they left the restaurant, he looked into her eyes, trying to communicate both his fear and desire to her, then started to kiss her slowly, which, after a few moments, she started responding to, pressing herself against him.

After a few minutes of this, trying to excite her without making it too obvious what his objective was, James then asked nervously, "Lily, you are so beautiful, and I love you so much, I am going to lose control soon, in minutes at most. Could we...spend the night here or something?"

James then hesitated, waiting for her response, as she looked at him solemnly...

* * *

Sirius wanted to smack himself in the head; when he had prepared his brilliant scheme, as well as his plan for protecting James' relationship with Lily, he had forgotten to check the times for each, which conflicted MASSIVELY. 'Ugh, its not too late to stop this now, but I could get in trouble for this. I mean, I would have to reveal my plan, and I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to take away points from Gryffindor next semester. I HATE how he favors Slytherin all the time!'

He glared at the clock, pacing nervously as he periodically checked the cleaning on the cauldrons that he had to do for Slughorn. When he had been given the task, Slughorn had told him to use elbow grease, but, quite frankly, Sirius had never been able to find any in the storage cabinets, so he had had no choice but to use his wand to clean them finely. Unfortunately, that meant that he had to spend a very long time on it, as he had to carefully cast a spell on each of the ten cauldrons he had been given, then check up on it every few minutes; in all honesty, it was quite exhausting.

The problem that Sirius had was that the prank that he had planned for Snivellus, without James, himself or Peter conveniently nearby, could result in him dying, which not even Snivellus deserved, much. As he and Peter were stuck in seperate detentions, and James was on his date with Lily, which Sirius was pretty sure he wouldn't be back from until morning, meaning that he was taking a rather large chance. 'Also, the backup plan is compromised, as there are quite a few holes in it, so, although it won't get me in trouble directly, it might not work as well as intended...'

'OK, I have two choices: I can go tell a teacher about the plan, as, if I don't, the door won't open until the detention is done, considering it is both spelled and locked, or I can just keep going as if nothing is wrong.' Sirius considered the advantages and disadvantages of each approach carefully; if he didn't tell a teacher about the prank, then Snivellus would likely get maimed, and perhaps scarred for life permenently, at the very least, but if he did, then he would probably cost Gryffindor quite a few points next year at the minimum, causing his reputation to drop even more into the tank, and, even though it was just a Slytherin, Dumbledore might not see it that way and expel him.

'Hmm, it would be one thing if it were a Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff, or even a Ravenclaw; I would be willing to risk quite a few points, maybe even my scholastic status to protect one of them, but I am NOT going to risk my reputation and future to protect one of those spawn-of-evil Slytherins. Besides, although I can't say I think that Snivellus deserves to die now, at least it will prevent Voldemort from getting yet another Death Eater in the future, making it good in the long run.'

Calm and secure with his decision, Sirius returned to his detention work, knowing for a fact that he was doing the right thing...

* * *

Lily shook her head sadly as she prepared to walk back to the castle with James, after letting him take her through the Shrieking Shack, because it should be deserted at this time. 'I guess that this really is the death of our relationship after all...'

The night had gone pretty well at first; James had gotten her flowers and held her hand, trying his best to be romantic as they had walked toward Hogsmeade, chatting about nothing. Lily then chuckled, remembering how, no matter which time-line or how many times he had gone about it, he had never been able to figure out her favorite flower, although one time, he had been so frustrated that he had bought her what was practically all of the contents of a wizarding flower shop, hoping that at least one of the 137 varieties that he bought was the right one, only to be sadly disappointed. 'It really ended up becoming something of a running joke between us...'

After they had made it to the restaurant, James, apparently forgetting that she really liked steak in all of its varieties, had bought her some roast beef, and tried to engage her in small talk. 'Really, it was like our first date again...not in a good way unfortunately...'

What Lily meant by it being like their first date, was that it had been awkward, fumbling, and, frankly, somewhat embarrassing, something that shouldn't happen when you had been dating someone for months at that point. 'He kinda dropped the ball on that one; of course Gryffindor would do poorly if the Marauders had caused it to hemorrage points...'

Afterward, he had blatantly tried to seduce her, something which, if she had been the same Lily from the previous time-line, would have gotten him slapped, but she had already lost her virginity to him once before, and had slept with him enough times, considering that they had been married, that she actually hadn't minded the idea of it all that much, and, if it helped save their relationship, then maybe, just maybe, it would be worthwhile. 'Then we got to the hotel room...'

Ironically, James in this time-line seemed to do a much better job at getting her ready for their 'first time' than he had in the previous one. She had been fully aroused, and, physically, it had been incredible; she had taught him well during their snogging and make-out sessions, and he was doing his absolute best, she could tell, but something important had been different. 'The first time that James and I had gone all the way, I felt like my heart, mind and soul were screaming "YES!", like I had become a nexus of the universe in some way, not this time though...'

Indeed, this time, it had been like, while her body had been enjoying itself immensely, begging for more, her heart and soul...while she could still sorta sense that same feeling that she had had her first time with James, it was as if someone had decided to turn down the volume significantly. She could only feel an echo of the way she had felt when she had been with him in the other time-line, and, because of that, she had brought things to a stop, claiming something about not ACTUALLY being ready for that step, he had broken down, telling her in tears about how he had been kissed by Sabrina, and he hadn't been sure that he had wanted it to stop.

'It wasn't that I felt angry with him, it wasn't that I felt betrayed, it wasn't that I felt jealous, it was that I felt...nothing.' Indeed, that had been the moment that she had known that her original second objective, the one of keeping James as her future husband, had failed completely, and what made the failure so complete was the fact that it hadn't bothered her at all. It was as if he was talking about Sabrina kissing Remus, or Peter, rather than the man who she was in a relationship with, and that bothered her more than anything.

They made it to the shack right as Severus and Mary burst out of it, clothes partially torn and rumpled, and, to Lily's jealousy and anger, she could see that Mary's lips were badly swollen, and her hair was all messed up. Lily's eyes flashed in fury, as she tried to get her anger under control, reminding herself that it was their business, and she had been considering doing the very same thing earlier that evening, but it wasn't going too well. Mary then suddenly shouted in fury, "Lily you WHORE! What the hell were you thinking!? How could you try to hurt Sev like that!?"

Lily glared at her, after quickly peeking at the window, seeing that, yes, her clothes, make-up and hair were all perfect again, although there might have been a couple wrinkles, so that must mean... "Mary! How did you!? Were you FOLLOWING...!?

Lily noticed that, like James, who seemed confused, Severus wasn't saying anything, and he just had his eyes shaded by his hair as he stood at the ground. Suddenly, Mary then roared, sounding more like a wild beast than a fifteen-year-old girl, "Following? FOLLOWING!? You are angry at me because I was FOLLOWING!? Do you have any idea how much you could have hurt Sev!?"

Lily then yelled back, circling so as to make sure that James was out of the line of fire in case Mary got violent, something that wouldn't surprise her, "Of course I am angry at you because you were following! That sort of thing is supposed to be private!"

Severus then said, just loudly enough to hear, sounding more than a little strange, "Please Lily, just tell me why you decided to do it..."

Angry at the both of them, especially because of what the two of them had CLEARLY been doing, Lily said angrily, "Well, in case the two of you haven't noticed, James Potter IS my boyfriend, so what do you think!?"

For a moment, there was silence, then Mary screamed, "You...ARGH! _REDUCTO, REDUCTO, CONFRINGO!"_

Lily, using reflexes and skills honed by dozens of battles against the Death Eaters, and others who supported Voldemort, dodged or blocked all of Mary's attacks with great ease. After all, in skill terms, it was a trained and experienced 20+ year old auror versus a fifteen year old girl, who had only recently started really getting involved in actual wizard-duals. Meanwhile, James started firing back his own jinxes, aiming to stun or disable her. Severus then shouted "STOP!", and grabbed Mary, pulling her back and whispering something in her ear, clearly trying to calm her down. He then said aloud, voiced thick somehow "Don't worry James, she won't attack...your girlfriend anymore."

Lily then, incensed at the attack upon her with possibly lethal spells, then shouted, "Sev, your girlfriend just tried to kill me! How can you...?"

Severus then whirled at her, which caused her to stop speaking, as in his eyes was a giant pool of emotions. Love, anger, hurt, sadness; those emotions were all visible in his black orbs, and she felt a sense of foreboding for a moment, then the emotions seemed to recede, leaving only black mirrors in their wake. In a scene out of her worst nightmares, Severus then said coldly, "You filthy Mudblood. I can't believe that I ever called you my friend. Goodbye...and good riddance!"

He then turned and looked at Mary, as James seemed to be confused by Severus' words, then said, "Come on Mary, SHE isn't worth it. Let's get going..." The two of them then stalked off, headinf back to Hogwarts by a different route than the Shack.

'This...can't be happening...WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!? I...How can I lose him again!?' As she wailed mentally, feeling the same pain that she had felt the first time he had called her that, James then said disgustedly,

"So much for Snivellus having a good side; I mean, I had no idea what you guys were talking about, but I would never have blown up at you like that!" Then he paused before shouting, "Wait a minute!"

As James dashed into the Shrieking Shack, Lily felt as if ice water had been poured into her veins. 'What if...no, it couldn't be... It just couldn't!'

She was about to go rushing off after Severus and ask him what he and Mary had REALLY meant, possibly pleading with him desperately for his forgiveness, when suddenly she was surrounded by white light, and the voice of the angel spoke, saying quietly, 'Lily Evans, I am afraid that you have failed, completely...'

**Author's Notes: **It may seem otherwise, but this fic is far from over, but trust me when I say that Lily has dug herself into a truly deep hole, and the world along with it, far deeper than she can even imagine. Stay tuned for the next chapter, which should be arriving soon...

In case it isn't obvious, although it really should be, Lily got angry because she thought that Mary had been spying on her and James, especially because she thought that Mary had actually BEEN doing the deed with Severus herself... The hypocrisy made her furious, and she blew up...


	27. Naivete's Consequences, Lily's Decision

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 27**

**Naivete's Consequences, Lily's Decision**

_I have two lifetimes of debts to repay to Snape, this is the least I can do..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_A Place Beyond Time_**

Lily started yelling as soon as she could barely make out the angel who had brought her here, "What the hell do you think you are doing!? I need to go back there! I...I need to talk to Sev RIGHT NOW!"

The angel was silent as the area around her reformed into a perfect copy of 'The Spot' that she and Severus had always met at as children, and she found herself clothed in the red and golden robes of the last time that she had been here. Angry at being ignored, she then shouted, getting worried, but channeling that into volume, "WELL!? SEND ME BACK!"

'Lily Evans,' said the voice in her head with great calmness and pity clearly 'audible', 'there is no point in sending you back. As I told you, you have completely failed at improving this time-line and have shifted it to an Apocalypse class, meaning that it is time to scrap it. I will not be sending you back, for it is now beyond your ability to fix.'

Lily, starting to feel afraid now, then shouted, "How!? How can it be!? It...I tried everything, EVERYTHING! How can you say that it has entered Apocalypse level!? THERE MUST BE SOME CHANCE!"

'Even if there were 'some chance', it is a moot point, as there are other worlds for me to protect and create, and I cannot afford to waste the energy I could use to protect those worlds in keeping that world going, let alone what it would take to keep you in that time-line without making you permenently a part of it. But, as for your question, you have 'successfully' reached the point in that time-line that any Lily, with all the things you knew when I extracted you from that time-line, no matter how lucky or clever, would cause that world to come to its inevitable, apocalyptic conclusion.' The voice had said this with a calm, yet final tone.

It then continued, 'Even if I was willing to let you waste your existance meaninglessly in pursuit of something that is impossible, I refuse to spare any energy to let you commit suicide that I could use to create another, possibly successful, time-line, which I will NOT be assigning you to. It, quite simply, takes far too much energy to be worthwhile to send someone to another time-line after having been part of two already.' Lily could then hear a sigh. 'Go back to your husband Miss Ev...Mrs. Potter, for there is no more to be done here. The world you just left will be erased within an hour of what you would call 'time' here, so simply enjoy your afterlife as you would have before I had borrowed you...'

Lily, in tears at her failure which she had obtained somehow, which condemned Severus, Mary, James and an entire world to their deaths, could only walk away, unable to see from the liquid filling her eyes, without even trying to look back, as she feared that, somehow, she would see the world she had just destroyed. 'Why...? Why did everything turn out so wrong...?'

* * *

James Potter wanted to cry himself as he watched his wife crying as she walked down a path that led nowhere, for nowhere was where she intended to go. If she had wanted to find someone, or somewhere, the design of this borderground was to take the person to that place and, if they didn't want to find anything, it would take them to a place where they felt most at home. 'I wonder if there is any real point in calling her my 'wife' anymore, for 'home' to her has become where she and Snape were happiest, and where we were happiest is no longer visible. I am no longer what she wants most, or what she longs for...'

He sighed as he remembered a conversation that he had had with the angel while he had waited in the borderlands, either to hear of her success or failure, barely an hour ago, or whatever one cared to use for time in this timeless place...

_Flashback:_

_James enjoyed himself watching the time-line that he still refered to as 'his', the one he had been born in and, the first time at least, died in. He didn't know whether to be happy or sad that his son, in many ways, had followed in his footsteps when it came to his behavior. It was regretful that, in dealing with the greasy git, Harry had acted in many ways like his father, for, although Snape hated Harry for his own foolish reasons, it would have made James feel far better about his own sins if his son had managed to, in some way, repay the man in the way that he had deserved for his actions, and as James still wanted to. 'Harry's reasons are just as understandable as Snape's, maybe more so, but that doesn't mean that I don't wish that at least one of them would have been able to rise above their hatred. After all, isn't it the son's job in many cases to help pay for the sins of his father, like it is the father's job to help protect his son from his own sins?'_

_Suddenly, there was a voice ringing in his head, and James scowled, 'James Potter, would you mind coming to meet me where you encountered Lily? I have something to talk with you about...'_

_Speaking aloud so he didn't get his thoughts crossed with the angel's voice, James said dismally, "I really hate that...being. If he had helped me understand what I was supposed to do..."_

_'It was not my place, but your own to make the changes necessary to save the time-line you were assigned to. You were assigned to a time-line where, just like everybody else assigned to one, you were given a reasonable chance of changing the course of history for the better, and you managed to destroy it completely, as I fear that your wife might be doing 'tonight'.'_

_Worried, James walked out of the door of his house and right into the place where he had encountered Lily, or some varient of it, for the building that had once taken up a fair portion of the plot had vanished completely. Confused at this, James looked around as the voice then said in his head, 'This place is where she feels most at home, just like before, but her definition of 'home' has apparently changed, and the land has reflected it...'_

_James could only nod as the angel then continued, 'It appears that Lily has come to a crisis point of her time-line, although she doesn't know it. Within a few hours, she will be given an opportunity to maybe, just maybe, change the future of the time-line from the images in the dreams which I have been sending her...'_

_At this James grinned, letting out a cheer, only to falter as the angel didn't seem to share his enthusiam. Confused, James then said, "Um, Angel...guy, isn't that a good thing? I thought that you told me that that future was a very dark one indeed, wouldn't changing it be a good thing?"_

_James could almost hear the being sigh, as it then said into his thoughts, 'If she changes it, then it will prove a very good thing, but I fear that her naivety and her difficulty at looking past the surface will mean that she will come to the wrong conclusion about various subjects, and make a grave mistake, condemning the world to the Apocalypse I have foreseen in store for it.'_

_It then said, reading James' mind, 'As you may have already guessed, I do not expect her to make the correct decision, and this decision, if wrong, will be irrevocable, sending the world into a tailspin of destruction and woe. As such, I have called you here, for I feel that she will need some support should she fail, and who better to provide this support than her husband?'_

_James, worried like the angel, tried to muster some confidence to say defiantly, "I think that you are underestimating Lily. She may be naive, and may make mistakes sometimes, but I think that she WILL save this time-line; you can trust me on that!'_

_'Let us hope that you are right...'_

_End Flashback:_

James sighed as he heard her say aloud, seeming shell-shocked, much like he had when his failure had been pointed out to him, "How...? Why...?"

He then whispered to himself, "I just hope that I can still provide the support she needs..."

* * *

Lily cried softly as James held her, whispering words that tried to be soothing, but failed miserably, her face buried in his chest, looking for any form of comfort; if it hadn't been for the pain and anguish she now felt, she would have been angry at herself for blubbering like this, and for sheer inability to say anything that wasn't only a fragment of a word, but, in her pain, she simply didn't care. She had failed, completely, irrevocably in her quest merely to maintain her friendship with a boy who now seemed to hate her, just like last time, had probably come close to destroying her relationship with her husband in the afterlife, and had, all in all, managed to achieve absolutely nothing at all. Still sobbing, she then said aloud, voice muffled by her husband's biceps,

"Why James? Why does this keep happening to me? Its like the more and more I tried to keep him as my friend, the worse it got; I was getting jealous, acting like some bloody teenage girl, and I almost was willing to throw away everything else that was important to me, just for him. I mean, I'm pretty sure that he just gave up on our friendship because he thought that I had slept with you, and you were my boyfriend for Merlin's sake!"

James didn't say anything for nearly a minute, which caused Lily to look back up at him in confusion, only to see a very odd, almost pained look on his face. He looked away from her, then said in an odd voice, "Are you absolutely sure about that Lily?"

Frowning, Lily tried to recall the conversation. While neither party had been absolutely clear about what they meant, it had seemed pretty obvious to her, and the only thing keeping it from being sure in her mind was the pain in her aching heart, which was telling her that this Severus had been different at that time than the previous one, and maybe, just maybe he cared more about her than the other one had, but it was a hope that was fading fast as the minutes went by; it was only another half-hour until the time-line she had just left was completely erased at this point...

"I don't know James. I would like to believe that he hadn't been so shallow, but, just like in the last time-line it appears, I don't think that he was able to get over his jealousy, so he just gave up on me, although I had hoped that Mary wouldn't..."

James just stood there, seeming to war with himself for nearly a minute, then said, "Lily...I don't think that Snape would have been that shallow, just trust me on that..."

Lily frowned, then looked back at her husband; after the events in sixth-year and seventh-year, James had grown far less arrogant and sure of himself, and, to her surprise at the time, even easier to read, to the point that even she could usually manage it, something which had been honed by several years of living with this new James, and those instincts which Lily had built were telling her...

"James, what are you hiding from me? You always used to laugh when I tried to say to you that Severus was anything better than a greasy git, so why would you change your tune now? I know that you still hate his guts, for your lip still curls most of the time that someone even mentions his name, so there has to be something else..." Lily then trailed off, waiting for him to speak.

James looked back at her, both guilt and pain clearly visible in his face, then he said quietly, "There is something that I never told you Lily, for two reasons you see, both because I was afraid what you might do, considering that this happened when we were about to enter hiding, and because I actually made a promise to the bloke, but...Do you remember the night before we went into hiding? And how I was bring so stupid about the idea of hiding like a coward just because Dumbledore said to trust him?"

Lily nodded her head slowly, then James continued, sounding as if he was waiting for a bomb to go off, "Well, I went to talk to Dumbledore, angry about how we were being forced to hide, and, after a row, he called into his office, to my IMMENSE surprise, Severus Snape. A couple of months before it appeared, Snape had been spying on Dumbledore on behalf of Voldemort, as he was a Death Eater you know. Well, he overheard a prophecy being spoken of, of a boy who would be born at the end of July or something, who would have the power to defeat the Dark Lord, then, well, he went straight to Voldemort and told him about this prophecy..."

Lily could only say in horror, "At the end of July...Harry? Severus was the cause of that? And why was he there at Hogwarts?"

James looked away, sounding audibly pained, then said, "Well, apparently the git hadn't known about the fact that it referred to you and me; hell, I don't think that he even knew that you were pregnant, as we were keeping that quiet, remember?" As Lily nodded, he then continued, "Well, once he found out that the prophecy meant you, Snape had apparently gone to Voldemort, begging him to spare your life, which Voldemort apparently agreed to..." As Lily's eyebrows raised in shock, James gritted his teeth, then seemed to force out his next words, "...but, not believing that he would keep his bargain, Snape went immediately to Dumbledore, and begged him to protect you."

As the contents of Lily's brain started to resemble white noise from her surprise, James chuckled weakly, then continued, "Now Dumbledore is no fool, so he didn't trust him, and he asked him what he would give for him in return, and apparently Snape said 'Anything...', which made me laugh, thinking that Dumbledore had gone mad to trust him, but apparently Severus had become a double-agent, and kept doing so right up until, well, I dunno cus then we died."

Lily, unable to even remotely understand the concept of 'reality' anymore, then asked hesitantly, "You're...sure?"

James sighed, then said, "As sure as I am that I love you, I am sure that he did too..."

Lily tried to think for a few minutes, not doing very well, but she finally said, "James...Thank you..." Then she looked him in the eyes, knowing how much it would hurt him, but knowing that she had to do this, and asked, "Could you take me back to the angel? I need to go back...Please?"

As she had expected, he looked tortured, but finally said, "Come on...let's go..."

* * *

Khaldun, one of the angels of fate, sighed as he prepared to bring an end to another world. This was the most terrible part of his duty, and he always hated being forced to do it, but he only did it when it was absolutely necessary. The world's destruction would be complete in a matter of minutes, and then he would resolve again to do his best to try to stop that from happening, but he wouldn't succeed completely, no matter how much he tried...

Suddenly, he felt a presence near him, and he reshaped himself with a thought so he was facing Lily Potter, who's eyes were blazing, trepidation and hope mixed together inside her mind, as James Potter stood beside her, looking terribly sad. He then sought to read her mind, but she had already started speaking, "Mr. Angel, I need to go back to the time-line. Please, I think that I can change it..."

He sighed again, not even bothering to look inside of her mind, then communicated to her mentally, 'Mrs. Potter, even if you had the slightest, most minute chance of changing the time-line, I am not willing to waste the energy that it will take me to keep it powered. It will be expensive enough completing your extraction from that time-line, without being forced to spend energy when even you have to concede your defeat.'

"What if I said not to bother trying to extract me?" The woman said as Mr. Potter gasped slightly. Khaldun frowned slightly, inside of his aura, as he began to peruse her mind, trying to get a read on how willing she was to risk her existance, then 'said', 'Well, Mrs. Potter, I suppose that, if you were willing to fully meld yourself to that time-line, then I could use that energy to power it for a year, maybe two at most, but that would mean that, even in death, you would be bound to that time-line forever, even going to that time-line's afterlife, but that would be extremely foolish. I would wash my hands of this, metaphorically speaking, and, even if you begged me to leave, I wouldn't comply with your request, unless you somehow were able to restore the time-line to a minimum of a Malign one before the power that I would have used to power the time-line ran out.'

He then continued, wanting everything to be completely understood by this extremely foolish woman, 'You must understand, the ONLY reason that I would be willing to consider this is because this, to me, is a free-roll situation, as gamblers in your time-line say. The odds of your success are horrendous, and you have little time to accomplish what you need to do to prevent utter destruction. I am not considering this because I believe that you have even the slightest chance of success, but because it costs me nothing. Is that understood? ANY Lily knowing what you knew when you left that time-line is doomed to failure, so your odds, even if what you have learned here is important, are terrible at best.'

Lily, a smile on her face, then said calmly, "They may be terrible, and I might be predestined to fail, but I owe Severus this, and, more importantly, I owe myself this. I made two promises, one long ago, and one less than a year ago, both saying that I would be his friend forever. Even if he no longer cares about me half as much as in my original time-line, or even if he doesn't want to be my friend at all, I am unwilling to spend an eternity, knowing that I failed to keep these promises in, not just one, but two seperate lifetimes. At the very least, I will do whatever it takes to be his friend, and, even if it should cost me my very existance, I will not regret having done so, I am sure."

Sighing at her stupidity, but knowing that it was a costless gamble on his part, Khaldun then 'said' 'Very well then...', and returned her to the time-line, using the energy he had earmarked for extracting her safely to start keeping that reality powered. He chuckled mentally, sadly, as she was the first person he had ever met who, upon being extracted the instant before it was too late to escape an Apocalypse scenario, had chosen to dive right back into it, knowing how awful the odds for her.

'Turning' towards James Potter, he then asked a question that had been bothering him ever since he had sensed Lily's reasoning in her own mind, 'James Potter, I must ask you, why did you choose to tell Miss Evans about that incident in your original time-line? You had nothing to gain by doing so, and much to lose...'

He shrugged, and, rather than reading his mind for the information that was now floating there, Khaldun waited for his response, which came quickly, and with a tinge of embarrassment "You see, when I talked to Severus, I accused him of trying to use this to steal my wife from me, for it was the only reason that made sense to me; he laughed at me as Dumbledore left the room, saying that I was still 'incredibly dense and foolish, with no concept of subtlety whatsoever', and several other insults, then said that I had just proven why I was unworthy of Lily, for I was unable to walk his path, and that made me unfit, but then he said that he had no intention of telling her, for, after four years and nearly ten months of being without her, he would happily settle for her survival, and perhaps her eventual friendship, for, in spite of my 'complete and utter lack of anything resembling worth', I had won her heart and he had lost."

James then looked down at the ground, clearly angry because of a moment that had happened a long time ago, then said, "I asked him to clarify why he thought I was unworthy, which caused him to laugh again, mockingly, then told me to 'use that pathetic Gryffindor brain to figure it out'. It wasn't until after I had left that I finally understood what he had meant; he had lost her painfully, had almost no chance of winning her heart, might not even be able to regain her friendship and, if I had carried out my threat to curse him if he tried to get too close to her, ever see her again, and yet he was still willing to cast aside everything that he had worked for, all his Slytherin 'friends', EVERYTHING, just to keep her safe. It would have been easy for me to risk my life to keep her safe, because I had her love, her heart, everything, but he no longer had anything from her, and yet he was still willing to throw everything away to protect her; I couldn't have done what he did, having suffered as he did, and he knew it, which is why he laughed at me."

"If I hadn't told her, then that would have haunted me forever, even in the afterlife, for I would have let her believe a lie simply because I was afraid to lose to him in her heart, but, at the least, the time-line I was in showed me one thing, and that was that, even if she hated me, it is better than letting her believe a lie because it is easier for me. Besides, I ruined the bloke's life in one existance, and ended it in another, so I figure that he deserves from me at least a taste of his ideal heaven."

As Khaldun applauded him mentally for doing something that was as hard as what it must have been for him, James looked at Khaldun and asked hesitantly, "Why were you so sure that Lily's chances are so bad Mr. Angel?"

Sighing mentally, Khaldun then communicated to him, 'Because, even if she wins his forgiveness, a task which will prove to be nearly impossible, given she hasn't even the faintest idea of what he thinks she hurt him with, she has to stop him from unleashing his fury, and that of his army, _Aduro Terranum_, from someone who truly deserves it, solely because of what it might lead to the world, something which he has never particularly cared about.'

James then wondered aloud, "Who?"

Khaldun then said flatly, 'Dumbledore...'

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ooh! Cliffie! I was going to write a bit more, but the last scene was much longer than I had anticipated. For those of you who are probably wondering, here is the summary of what has happened in the other time-lines since Chapter 17:

In Remus' time-line, Severus easily discovered his secret of being a werewolf, and convinced him to tell Lily, which wasn't too hard for him considering he had done it 'before'. Although they were only in third year, Severus and Lily then spent the rest of term inventing a potion which hadn't ended up being invented until far later in the original time-line, _Wolfsbane_. Upon their success, Remus has finally managed to get over any anger he still felt for Severus' role in Dumbledore's death, considering that this one is 'very different'. Nonetheless, this time-line is still only a Bright rating.

In Sirius' time-line, his anger towards Severus from the previous time-line has lead to him, upon discovering from James what Severus had done and why, which makes Sirius blame Severus for the deaths of the Potters and his own, on account of the fact that he was the one who revealed the prophecy, convincing James to keep Severus as far away from Lily as possible, doing his best to make her distrust him, even though she now knows that he is actually a 'good guy'. Lily is wavering, torn between her desire to regain the friend she lost, and the pleadings of her husband and his best friend, although Severus doesn't know why. This time-line has been downgraded to a Benign rating.

In Severus' time-line, although one would think he would pursue Lily as soon as it was reasonable to do so, considering that she has lost her husband, he has decided not to pursue her romantically, not because he isn't interested in her in that way, but because, quite simply, having her as his best friend again after a lifetime of being without her, having accidentally caused her death, is like having heaven on tap, and he just isn't willing to risk it, when it is so easy to just settle into his old role, and see her smile in front of him, since, like in Sirius' time-line, she knows that he turned traitor to Voldemort's cause long before his defeat. Ironically, without being hardened by his time at the Dursleys, and given the fact that Severus knows that Lily cares very much for her son, and he probably won't be able to spend time with her without including him much of the time, Harry has grown to adore his "Uncle Sev!", which embarrasses and shames Severus very much, as he has started to wonder what might have happened if he had given Harry a chance in the previous time-line, and is beginning to regret his role in what he believes was Harry's death. This time-line, now that the Ravenclaw diadem has been destroyed, leaving only Harry as a Horcrux, is still maintaining a Golden Age rating.


	28. The Awakening of a Fury

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 28**

**The Awakening of a Fury **

_For what she has done, I shall show her hells unimaginable...!_

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**One Day Later Monday July 1st, 1975**_

Albus Dumbledore sighed regretfully, remembering the events of earlier that morning, or perhaps the evening past; he had been quite surprised indeed when Mr. Snape and Miss Macdonald had come bursting into his office, telling him about what had happened earlier that evening, which had, quite frankly, appalled him, if they had been honest with him at least, which he still had some doubts of being the case. 'However, like with many things, I am cursed to have to look at the long-term perspective, and they simply didn't have the evidence necessary...'

When they had walked in, Mr. Snape had seemed on the verge of tears, but he mastered himself, and asked Dumbledore for an investigation into the events, as the evidence which he had had vanished somehow, leaving him with no real proof, even in his own thoughts. In addition, when Dumbledore looked through the series of events carefully, he had been forced to point out that, even in their own memories, Lily Evans hadn't directly agreed to having done what they accused her of.

In all honesty, Dumbledore knew that, in all likelihood, their suppositions wouldn't even remotely hold up in the light of day, especially considering that they were accussing their best...ex-best friend, but he had to admit that it had been far from the primary motive to denying their request. 'If Lily, Gryffindor's shining light now that the Marauders have been all but destroyed, were to be viewed as a horrible, betraying monster by Gryffindor, regardless of if what they claimed were false, then there would be almost nothing to build up my Order with inside of Gryffindor house. Besides, I just can't see Lily Evans trying to betray Mr. Snape like they claimed...'

After quite a while of careful consideration, Dumbledore had come to the conclusion that, even if they were right, sacrifices might have to be made to create the Order of the Phoenix in the long run. As such, especially after listening to the testimony that Mr. Potter had provided, he had decided not to perform an investigation, and had required them, like the first time that Mr. Snape had gotten involved in a serious prank involving the Marauders, to not speak of it at all, at least not directly or explicitly, lest they trigger a contract oath. 'Obviously they were far from thrilled, but if I had agreed to their request, then they would likely have been mortified if they had found out that Miss Evans was innocent, and they just didn't have the evidence necessary to support an investigation in the court of law...'

Dumbledore sighed again, for he knew that he was grasping at straws, as he WAS the headmaster after all, and didn't need Ministry support if he really went for it, nut his primary motive had been rather selfish, yet he felt that it would be better for the Greater Good if he were to stay as headmaster of Hogwarts, trying to repair the damage that the foolishness of the past year or so had caused, rather than being sacked, and replaced by someone who might not understand Voldemort and his plans inside Hogwarts nearly as well as him. He deeply regretted it, but it appeared that Severus Snape, and his accusations with him, was likely going to be thrown under the proverbial bus, although he hoped that, someday, he might be able to make it up to him...

'I suspect that Lily is innocent, and have hinted to them so, but they don't believe that to be the case, and I have no proof either...'

* * *

"Why...? Why Lily? Was it because I wasn't enough of a friend?"

Severus was talking aloud, a huddled mass on the floor of the fourth-year boy's dormitory, having broken down as soon as he had walked in, as the rest of the boys were having a party with the rest of the Knighthood, to celebrate the end of term, with only Mary there, laying down beside him, holding him in a single-armed hug, whispering things in his ear that were supposed to be comforting, but, after the events of tonight, seemed like scraps of water trying to hold back the river of his agony. 'I...didn't want to no longer be friends, but...if I didn't...I don't want to be hurt like that again!'

He sobbed once more as he envisioned a scene from his childhood with Lily, and how he had always dreamed that, one day, they might date, get engaged, and that they would eventually be at the altar, saying their 'I do's', and eventually having a child or two, not too many, for Severus knew that Lily had always dreamed of becoming an Auror, and he didn't think that he could keep more than a child or two under control if he had to watch them while staying at him, working at his dream of being a potions researcher, or maybe a spell researcher, for, according to Justin, he had an incredible knack for combat-magic, and maybe he could invent new spells for a living. 'B-but that will n-never happen. She didn't want me, not as her husband, nor as her boyfriend, nor as her friend, nor even to darken her eyesight, because of her precious Potter!'

He normally would have never cried in front of another human being, for he positively hated showing any of his emotions, let alone when he was in a state like this, but he just couldn't handle it alone, and he couldn't stop himself this time. He couldn't handle it at all...

"Sev, don't worry, everything will be fine, you'll see! We can get through this! Come on, just hold me, it will be OK..."

"Lily hates me. I was worthless to her in comparison to HIM, she said that it was because Potter was her boyfriend that she tried to do it to me. HOW CAN IT BE OK!? She said that we would be friends forever, and I was apparently so awful that she threw me away like garbage... LIKE GARBAGE!"

Mary drew him into her, clutching his head to her breasts, and Severus could see that she was crying too, which, apart from...best not to think of her right now, he hated above all other things. Normally, he would have tried to somehow, clumsily, comfort her, but he was in too much pain to even care if he was dead or alive, let alone what was happening around him. Still, he forced himself to clutch her hands in his own, and said shakily, even though he didn't care at the moment, "Mary..."

She hugged him tighter, then said fiercely, eyes blazing, "You were not awful, and you were not garbage! She was the one who was too awful to even deserve you! I would take you over a thousand Potters! And if she had had any brains at all, then she wouldn't have done what she did for him when she had a chance to have you! You are my boyfriend and my best friend; I will never give you up like she did, and I will never let you get hurt like that! Ever..."

Severus wanted to believe her very much, but really couldn't, not right now. He had broken off their friendship, yes, but he did have some human weaknesses, like fear, and he was truly afraid of what Lily had tried to do to him, and yet...and yet he knew he would still forgive her if she asked, and he was truly afraid of what that might lead to...

"Why Lily...? Why did I deserve to die...?"

* * *

"Oh MERLIN! HAHA-HA! This is bloody hilarious! How could I have possibly deserved to get this lucky!?"

Sirius, after he had heard the story from James, had almost busted a gut laughing the moment he had gotten to an area where he was alone; it was truly incredible how well his prank had gone, beyond his wildest dreams even. 'Hell! I just wanted the greasy git to get hurt and blame Lily for it, but for her to think that Macdonald and Snivelly had been following HER was beyond my wildest dreams! Not only that, but she all but confessed to them that SHE was behind the prank to begin with, and they think that it was an attempt at MURDER!'

"SIRIUS BLACK, YOU ARE A GENIUS!" He shouted to himself, still in hysterics at how ridiculous it was; he had been expecting that the plan, since James couldn't be there to keep Snivellus from offing himself, would likely blow up in his face, probably in some truly horrific way, as it seemed to be destined to, but it was as if, in chess, the opponent was one move from mating him, only to accidentally knock over her king and resign.

His laughter finally dying down, he prepared to return to Gryffindor tower, still smirking at the thought of Snivelly rejecting Lily's friendship for something that was never her fault, or even known by her. The best part was, even if Lily were to somehow consider forgiving Snivellus after calling her that truly awful word, which Sirius would never use as in insult, not even for his worst enemies, then, thanks to Dumbledore's decision, they couldn't TELL her even why they were angry with her. 'Its like I was prepared to fail, certain of complete and utter suffering, only for the stars to shine upon their own namesake, and have everything turn out perfectly! I wanted them to hate each other, and I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams!'

He then chuckled, saying aloud, "See Sabrina? It was destiny, James and Lily belong together, and now I can see if the two of us belong together as well!"

He had a truly huge grin the whole way back to Gryffindor tower, not knowing the horrors that he had set in motion, although, even if he had, it is unlikely he would have been too bothered, considering the suffering that Snivellus would be going through, and how much he planned to enjoy it...

* * *

Mary looked upon Severus' tears, and cried herself, not out of any sadness for what Lily had done to her personally, as she hadn't been nearly as close to Lily as he was, although she had called her her other best friend, but out of sadness for what Severus was suffering through. Mary hated seeing Severus in pain like this, and it was all the more sad concerning the fact that Lily had tried to kill someone who, even after nearly being killed by her, was still searching for some way to blame himself, even if he didn't realize it. 'Merlin...its a good thing that it didn't come down to a fight over him between Lily and I, as I doubt he cares THAT much for me, at least not yet, but she doesn't deserve him anyway, considering that she tried to kill him, solely because he humiliated James two months ago...no, she must have been planning it for all of those two months. Behind every single one of her smiles, jokes and laughs, she must have been plotting his demise...'

She shuddered at that, unable to imagine someone doing something so cold, so vile, as attempting to kill her best friend, yet being able to smile and laugh alongside him while she was planning how to kill him. 'I know for a fact that I will never forgive her, even though she didn't intend to include me in her sick little murder attempt, for I could never forgive someone who tried to kill Sev like that, whatever their reasons. Unfortunately, Severus...'

"Why Lily...? Why did I deserve to die...?

Mary said, almost angrily as she clutched him even tighter to her chest, which would have been rather erotic she mused, if it hadn't been for the situation, "Severus Tobias Snape! You DO NOT deserve to die in any way, shape or form! If anyone deserves to die, its Lily for trying to do this to you! She must have been LYING to you for months! She..."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as Severus burst into a fresh wave of tears, sobbing more than she had ever seen him before, which had been not at all. 'Darn it! Curse you Lily! How could you do this to him!? Reducing him to this! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!'

The worst part was that, as was obvious to Mary, given her knowledge of Severus, he would probably forgive Lily anyway, if she asked and begged him long enough, as she was his Achilles' heal, and that wouldn't change easily, no matter how many times she betrayed him. 'Argh! If I do nothing, then the same thing will likely happen again! Only worse, as I might not be there!'

The situation was truly dire in Mary's eyes, for Lily was like a dangerous beast who clearly didn't care how much she hurt Severus, and Dumbledore had made it clear that he felt that there wasn't enough 'evidence' to support their alegations, making her wish she knew the wizarding law involving this; she suspected that Severus did, but he wouldn't do anything to hurt Lily. Between that, and the fact that Severus would likely forgive her anyway, she was very indeed, for it was like a dangerous beast who couldn't be killed or caged, and that wanted to hunt down someone who would likely bare its neck if it attacked. 'This is not good...How am I supposed to deal with this?'

Looking over Severus' shoulder, Mary stared into the cracked, dirty mirror he had placed over a nearby nightstand and saw the fear in her eyes, and the resolve; she would NOT let Lily get the chance to try again, whatever it took. After nearly ten straight minutes of thinking, while she tried to comfort Severus with her words and caresses, she finally saw calmness in her reflection, and knew that she had come up with something. 'There is a way to deal with a vicious beast; you make a big wall, and blast it whenever it tries to climb it; I can't build a physical wall around Sev, but...'

She looked in her reflection, and admitted something to herself. 'If it would protect Severus, I would be willing to let this slide, providing she decides to stay out of his life, and avoid him, even at the cost of the vengeance she deserves to be rained down upon her. However, if she should not, I will build a wall of seperation, distance, and isolation between her and Sev, and if she should wish to get around that wall...'

Her reflection's eyes burned with fury, much like her own she suspected were doing. 'If she should try to climb that wall, I shall make her suffer hells that she has never even dreamed of!'

"How could Dumbledore? He...he didn't care that L...She could have killed me, so long as it benefited his bloody plan!"

Mary looked down at Severus' angered, pained face, then said aloud, "Apparently, for Lily, there is neither justice, nor truth, so long as it benefits him." 'But there will be vengeance, and suffering if she should even try to get within twenty, no fifty feet!'

'For every step she takes within twenty feet, I shall make her scream a thousand screams! The devil himself will bow down and applaud at the hells I will have in store for her...'

* * *

Meanwhile, although he had no knowledge of the events of that night, Lucius Malfoy was busy writing a letter, on behalf of Voldemort, that because of these events, would unleash a unholy terror upon this unsuspecting world...

**Author's Note: **This is a bit of an interlude chapter, and it shows well what Lily has in store for her, and the price of her naivete...

I do hope that you enjoyed it, even if my Sirius deserves to eat an _avada kedavra_.


	29. Love, Pain and Hatred

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 29**

**Love, Pain and Hatred**

_I will give him time to rebuild his shattered self..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**One Day Later Tuesday July 2nd, 1975**_

"Not again..."

Lily got up slowly, realizing that she was still right where she had been when she had been called back, laying down on the ground; apparently left undisturbed this time though, and she could tell that it had rained some, as she was all wet, and her dress had started to stick to her body quite a bit. 'Luckily, it seems that it hasn't started to stink yet, so I wonder how long it has been since I...went up.'

Glancing up at the sky, she groaned again, as the train was to have left in the morning on the 1st, and it was clearly late afternoon at the earliest, based on the position of the sun. 'Great, just great; I missed the train, and a chance to find Severus and get him to tell me what he thought I was doing, and...tell him that, although I was acting like a jealous freak, I really do love him the same way he loves me, and I want to be with him...' Lily smiled as she pictured him smiling one of his small smiles, eyes channeling pure joy, like he had when, all those years ago, she had told him that she was going to Hogwarts too...

Her smile faded though as she thought of Mary. 'She is going to truly hate me after...last night, and she might overreact until I can prove my innocence. For all her flaws, she truly loves Sev, a lot, so whatever she thinks that I did, if it was bad enough to make him call me a Mudblood, is going to make her truly furious. Even when she finds out that I am innocent, she might still hate me, assuming that I take Sev from her, and I can't blame her for it at all...'

Lily then took a deep breath, "OK Lily, what to do now; the train has already left, and I am still underage...in this world. What do I do?"

She thought for a moment, then remembered something that made her smile; Severus' mom had kept a working Floo connection in their house, which her husband had only agreed to because of its value in the case of emergencies, and Lily was pretty sure that this counted as one. 'OK, I've just gotta find a place in Hogsmeade with a working Floo connection, no big deal...'

Remembering that Madam Rosmerta had always kept a jar of Floo powder available for travelers, available at cost, Lily quickly hastened towards the Three Broomsticks which, even in the absence of the Hogwarts students, was very crowded. As soon as she entered though, a good portion of the patrons stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Realizing that, with hair wet and bedraggled, and dress sticking to her all over, Lily blushed, but made her way over to Rosmerta nonetheless, who said, a little too loudly for Lily's taste, "Lily Evans! What in Merlin's name has happened to you!?"

Frowning, Lily said to her in a terse tone of voice, "Madam Rosmerta, I need to use your Floo, its kinda a emergency. How much will it be?"

Still goggling at her, Rosmerta said confusedly, "Uh...Eight Sickles Miss Evans, but what in Merlin's name has happened to you?"

Lily quickly counted out the Sickles, slamming them into Rosmerta's hand, and grabbed a handful of Floo powder from the nearby pot, before throwing it in the fire, going in, and saying clearly, making sure she covered her mouth with her hands to prevent any ashes from getting in, as she still remembered the time she had accidentally gone to Gideon Prewitt's house instead of James Potter's, during which Gideon had been...entertaining a female acquaintance, "Severus Snape's House, Spinner's End."

As she arrived, and the world around stopped spinning, Lily prepared herself to encounter a particularly odious excuse for a human being, Tobias Snape...

* * *

"I truly loathe him..."

Severus could tell, Mary was shocked at the target of his hatred, and it confused her, for it was obvious that she hated Lily now, for, as much as they had been friends, Mary hated her for trying to kill Severus. She then said, questioning, "Why Sev, I mean, L...SHE was the one who attacked you and tried to kill you, so why do you hate Dumbledore of all people for what she did?"

Severus glared at the nearby window as if it had done him a personal wrong, then said, "Because I will never know for certain now whether she is innocent or guilty, or, if she is guilty, if she actually had a good reason for it!" Seeing Mary about to reply, he then continued quickly, "I know that, in all likelihood, Lily was the one responsible, and she admitted it, but, if Dumbledore WAS right, and Lily wasn't actually responsible, it still doesn't matter!"

Mary looked at him, eyebrows raised, then said, in a tone that suggested that this was for his benefit only, "Assuming that, somehow, Lily wasn't responsible, why wouldn't it matter? I mean, if she isn't responsible, how bad could it be?"

Severus laughed bitterly, then said angrily, "It doesn't matter, because, thanks to this bloody contract, Lily will never know what she is guilty or innocent of! How can she prove herself innocent if she has no idea what she is even being accused of!? I can NEVER find out for certain, because she can never know! That's why I hate the man, as, thanks to him, I will never know if I was right in giving up on her, as, if she is innocent, then I just gave up my best friend for NO REASON WHATSOEVER! And if she is guilty, then he has made it so that she can never be punished for trying to kill me, and there is nothing stopping her from trying again!"

He then continued in his rant, "And its not because of the lack of evidence, its because she is a bloody Gryffindor! If there was a bloody investigation into last night, then I would KNOW! I would know that either she was innocent or guilty! But since she is a GRYFFINDOR, he let's it slide, AGAIN!"

Severus immediately shut up, but Mary wasn't the type to miss something like that. She said, at first quietly, then louder, shaking with rage, "Again? AGAIN!? What do you mean by AGAIN!? Has Lily done something like this before!?" Severus shook his head, but couldn't say anything else for fear of expulsion. Mary then rolled her eyes, muttering, "Stupid contract magic..."

She seemed to think for a minute, then said calmly, "Was it another Gryffindor?"

Severus nodded, then she said, "Was it...Black?" As Severus nodded again, grimly, her eyes seemed to flash with rage, and she seemed to explode, shouting epithets and curses, as her fury seemed to create an presence around her, the same as the one that he had felt when she had first begged him for help in her vengance against Black, although far worse. She seemed like one of the ancient Furies, determined to avenge those who had been harmed unjustly, and she had never looked so enraged, or beautiful, as she did now, eyes flashing, determined to seek vengeance on his behalf.

His lips curled slightly in a small smile as he watched his girlfriend rage in his name. 'Dumbledore, you have no idea of the horrors in store for you; I would pity you, if I didn't know that you deserve them, every. Last. One. I will enjoy watching you suffer the retribution that you so richly deserve!'

He was still smiling slightly, when he heard the voice of Mary's mom shouting up the stairs, "Mary! Severus! Its time for dinner! You'd better wash up!"

* * *

Lily shuddered as she walked slowly back to her house, shoulders drooping, as she recalled her conversation with Tobias Snape...

_Flashback:_

_Tobias Snape, who had been sitting on his old, faded, moldy couch, getting a head start on 'Happy hour' in the privacy of his own home, seemed too surprised to speak at first at the entrance of Lily from his fireplace, but, upon recovering, he walked up to her and asked rudely, "What's a bint like you doing here?"_

_Lily gave him a look of utter loathing, then said, trying to keep calm, even as he looked her over, leering as he did so, "Where is Severus, I need to speak to him immediately, its important!"_

_The oft-drunken man seemed to think about it for a moment, then said, "He ain't here; those rich folks took him yesterday, said he wouldn't be back for the rest of the summer. Stupid to want him really, but its their choice if they want to have em, especially given the good money they paid me to take him off my hands. Daft of 'em really, I would've done it for free."_

_Lily was utterly confused, as she didn't know of anyone rich, at least not in Muggle terms, to her recollection, so she said, questioning, "Rich folks? What do you mean Mr. Snape?"_

_The man seemed to growing tired of her, but said as he walked back to the couch, slouching as he did so, "Eh, something Macdonald. They seemed to have a fair bit o' money, given the amount they gave me. Beats me what they wanted him for, but maybe it had something to do with that daughter of their's; they all seemed to be looking down on me, so I thought that they were rich or sumthin'."_

_'Imagine that...Someone looking down on a piece of garbage like you...' Nonetheless, Lily then politely asked him where they had taken Severus, to which Tobias replied, laughing,_

_"They didn't tell me, so don't bother asking me questions about that. Now, Evans, get going! Unless..." He seemed to purr the next part, leering at her as he did so, "...You want to do something else..."_

_Lily couldn't get out of that man's house fast enough..._

_End Flashback:_

Shuddering again, Lily was starting to get a very bad feeling, and it didn't involve Severus' awful father, who was apparently attracted to fifteen-year olds. 'Mary's parents didn't ask Severus to stay with them for the Summer for no reason; either Mary simply wanted him out of Tobias' house, which I would certainly understand and support, and tried to do to some extent when we were...this age the first time, what with having him spend the night as often as he could...' Lily chuckled as she remembered the time when they were both thirteen that her dad, laughing, had said that, at this rate, they had better either adopt him, or they might as well marry the two now and save time in the future, for he spent more time at her house than some of his coworkers did with their wives...

She then frowned, as she remembered her second guess. 'Either she did it to get Sev away from Tobias...Or she did it to get him away from me...'

Suddenly, as she was about to walk inside her home, an owl flew right over her head, causing her to jump back, barely stifling a surprised shriek, and dropped a letter onto her, then flew towards a nearby tree-branch, apparently waiting for her to reply. Frowning again, she looked at the letter, which had clearly been written by Mary, as it was most assuredly her handwriting.

_Dear Evans,_

_I will keep this simple and easy to understand; you will leave Severus Snape alone, not speaking or communicating with him in any way, or even entering within ten yards of him on purpose, or I will use pranks and hexes on you, the likes of which even Sirius Black might feel guilty doing, until you agree to this. _

_Sign Here_______________________

_Mary Macdonald_

Lily read it over twice, checking the back to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, then groaned. 'Well, that was certainly easy to understand, and it certainly makes her position clear. I can see why I would have most assuredly failed if I hadn't learned what I did, as Mary's pranks can be quite cruel to the victims when she wants them to, and if she says that even Sirius Black would be guilty of what she intends to do, then I probably would have given up, if I didn't know what I do now. However, I do know, and I will NOT lose Sev, so I guess that this is going to hurt...a lot.'

Frowning, Lily then put the letter back in its envelope, then wrote on the envelope, "No, I don't think that I did what you think I did, so just tell me what I did wrong, then I can explain..."

As the owl flew away, Lily felt chilled again, and she knew that, whatever was coming, it would be bad...

* * *

As Mary looked up at the ceiling in her room, she wanted to cry and break something, possibly at the same time, as Severus' anger at Dumbledore was now easily understandable. 'How could he? How could he let Black and Potter do something like that? Let alone what EVANS did!? If I were in his shoes, I would have exploded by now, but he is still managing to keep control of himself...'

However, as much as she now hated Dumbledore, Mary still hated Lily even more, for reasons that she felt ashamed to admit; until that night, she had thought that she had her 'victory', claiming Severus' heart, in the bag, only to realize that, in all reality, she still had quite a ways to go. 'She really did have all that I want, and she tried to kill it, for some slimeball of a boyfriend, even though she had been best friends with him since they were very young. I had tried and tried to slow down the battle, so that I would win it if and when it occured, only to discover that she had already won...'

'I had concealed the worst of her boyfriend from her, letting her think that he was better than he was, and she tried to kill Severus for her boyfriend's sake!' In truth, one of the reasons that Mary hated Lily so much, was because she hated herself, and, in some ways, blamed herself, for her part in encouraging Lily's actions, as she felt that, in some way, she had been responsible for Lily tryin to kill Severus, and she hated feeling that way.

'I just wanted him to be mine, and I might be part of the reason he almost ended up as nobody's! If it hadn't been for me, then would Lily have ever tried to do this? If she had known what I know, would she have made Severus happy? Instead, I made it so that she wanted to make James happy...'

The truth was, as much as Mary hated Lily, she hated herself most of all, because, when she had seen Severus' pain upon his realization of just how much of a monster the lying whore was, she had felt a moment of relief and glee, for now she had 'won', and she hated feeling that way, for she hadn't wanted to 'win' like this. She hated herself, for she blamed herself, but she knew that one thing was the case...'I can atone; I can redeem myself by making sure that Lily will never be able to hurt him again, and that he will be able to enjoy life as he would have if she had never darkened his gaze.'

She steeled herself as she glanced toward the window, looking at the now-Gibbous moon, then said, "At the least, I can make him happy, and I can help him to live in a world where he is as he deserves to be, thrilled with each and every day..."

Suddenly however, she saw a pair of shadows in front of her window, and screamed, to her embarrassment, then she realized that both were owls, right as Severus barreled into the room, wand in hand. Quickly, Mary grabbed the letter she had sent to, and received from, Lily, and hid it down the front of her shirt, in between her growing breasts, but Severus hadn't even noticed, for he had been too busy staring at the other owl, who had a haughty demeanor to it, then he whispered, "Lucius..."

The two of them then slowly walked toward the bird, Mary feeling for some reason as if a bomb were attached to it, then Severus grabbed the letter, and began to read aloud...

**_

* * *

_**

**_Three Days Later Friday July 5th, 1975_**

Lord Voldemort calmly ate his dinner, at least, it appeared that he was calm, but inside he was furious, as he waited for Lucius Malfoy, one of the few members he claimed to favor, to speak, and explain why he had done what he had done. If the answer wasn't to his satisfaction, then he had several hours of _Cruciatus _curses in store for him, for Malfoy had made an offer to the Snape boy and his Mudblood girlfriend, which Voldemort was quite unwilling to grant, and might even cost him the boy's valuable talents. This thought made Voldemort even more furious, as Malfoy seemed to be enjoying his meal, and Voldemort couldn't afford to kill him in public, at least, not at the moment...

Finally, Lucius said, a bit nervous it appeared, although less than Voldemort had hoped, "My lord, I suspect that you are angry at the offer which I have made the Snape boy..."

Voldemort calmly did a wordless, wandless stinging hex, as it was too Public for _Cruciatus_, to make Lucius get the point. Stifling a shriek of pain, Lucius quickly continued, "Appearences are different from what I have planned; although the three of us have made the agreement, my hands are bound if, as I hope you will when the time is right, you choose to go against the contract. I did this for three reasons you see: first, it gives us the possibility of having the Snape boy return to his true loyalties, as he will not be in any sort of romantic relationship with Macdonald, and the Evans girl and him have apparently had a falling out, although I didn't know that at the time. Second, it gives us another way to weaken Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix..."

At this, Voldemort cut in scathingly, "And why do you think that this would matter; thanks to the Snape boy's unwitting efforts, the 'Knights' have removed or infiltrated all other power-bases; there would be little for Dumbledore to build on to begin with!"

Lucius answered this coolly, after taking a moment to make sure that no-one was too close, and possibly able to hear, "As powerful as the Death Eaters will be after we finish our preperations, it is quite likely that people will rally to the name of 'Albus Dumbledore', as he did defeat the last major Dark wizard, almost single-handily, so it is best to keep the possibility in mind. In addition, this will give us the option of attracting the sort of rabble that might join his cause to ours, so that we can...'paint them with our own colors'... He would never take them afterward, fearing, quite rightly in some cases, that they would be spies on our behalf."

As Voldemort mulled this over, Lucius continued, "Moreover, imagine, an army of Mudbloods and Blood-Traitors willing to risk their lives for our cause, that of returning them to the position that they deserve. They won't join the Death Eaters, but might join this new organization, as Mary has become something of a heroine in Hogwarts, and they might be taken with her just enough to follow her, working for their own deaths..."

Voldemort smiled sinisterly, then said, "Your work pleases me Lucius, make sure that she succeeds in this, as it will be even more useful than you might think..."

**Author's Note: **I hope that this is working well, as I am trying to make both Severus' and Mary's reactions to Lily's 'betrayal' believeable. In case it isn't obvious, the reason that Severus was able to tell Harry about James' actions in canon, was because he had already graduated, and no longer needed to fear expulsion for breaking the contract.

I do hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and send me many, shiny reviews=). I like to read your reviews a great deal indeed...

Oh, and, 100K! We have officially passed the one hundred-thousand word mark!


	30. Meeting the Parents

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 30**

**Meeting the Parents**

_I care about him too much to let her hurt him again..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**One Day Later Saturday July 6th, 1975**_

"Uuuahh..."

Lily got up from her bed while yawning sleepily sleepily, knowing that it was too early for breakfast, but not wanting to miss a chance to spend time with her family, a chance she had forgotten about until she had returned to her childhood home, but didn't want to miss, as her search for where Mary and Severus was going absolutely nowhere, and she had nothing better to do. None of her other friends had any idea of where Severus might be, and there were a LOT of Macdonalds in the phone-book, and she could be from anywhere in England, which, although not the largest of nations, still had millions upon millions of people in it, apparently half of whom had the last name of Macdonald.

As she walked downstairs, she could see her mother, Marigold Evans, preparing for the day through her favorite morning ritual, picking horses that she would 'bet' on. Although she rarely took the risk of actually making a bet at the tracks, she certainly enjoyed trying to see if she could figure out the winners. As it was a very cheap hobby, her family didn't mind it, save to tease her about her favorite horses. Glancing up, Marigold smirked and said, "Why hello Lily, feeling wide awake I see..."

Lily said with a smirk, "Clearly not as awake as you are mom; any luck with Red Comet?"

Marigold's smirk faded and she said with a sigh of annoyance, "That was only one time; how was I supposed to predict that the blasted horse would try coming out the gate rear-first?"

Lily laughed, enjoying just being able to talk with her mother, who had, in her time-line, died just prior to Lily's own death, of cancer if Lily recalled correctly, so this was something which, while not particularly thought of ahead of time, with her concerns about protecting the future,, was certainly enjoyable. Suddenly, her mother asked casually, "Say Lily, why hasn't Severus been trying to call us or come over at all? I mean, normally the two of you spend so much time together that I wonder if you are coming home to be with him and only visit us, so its more than a little strange that I haven't seen hide nor hair of him..."

Lily sighed, as this was one thing that she hadn't wanted to mention to her parents, as she wasn't sure what was going on yet, although she suspected that it was very bad indeed. Nonetheless, she then told her mother about the incident with James, how he had taken her out on a date, and tried to make-out with her (It was her mom after all...), but she had found herself uninterested, then she mentioned about the incident outside the Shrieking Shack and how Severus had blown up at her, and lied, saying she had gotten hit by a falling tree branch to explain why she was a day late arriving back home; finally, she told her the gist of the letter that Mary had sent her...

At the end of it, Lily's mom seemed to be thinking carefully, nodding slowly, then detonated like a bomb, shouting at the top of her lungs, "That filthy, disgusting wanker! How dare he insult my little Lily like that!? I really thought better of that Snape kid, and that Macdonald girl you told us about seemed pretty nice and all too! And that James! Trying to seduce my baby like that! Ooh! I'll get him!"

Within about thirty seconds, so fast that Lily sometimes wondered whether or not he knew how to Apparate when his wife was involved, Richard Evans appeared at Marigold's side, and grabbed her around the waist as she continued shouting about how all of them deserved to die a most painful death, rolled his eyes indiscretely, and said, "Yes Marigold, they certainly deserve to die, now let's try and see if there is ANOTHER side to the story, as I doubt that Severus would have gotten angry at Lily like that for no reason, although I make no claims about the other two..."

Richard Evans and Marigold Evans were almost a classic case of opposites attract, and it still sometimes boggled Lily's mind how they got together; he had been a fighter pilot in the R.A.F. during WWII, whereas she had been one of the few female gamblers on the racetracks, when, one day, just after the war ended, he had popped over to a pub near her favorite track and happened to run into each other. That night, in his own words, he had called her the 'most annoying and insensitive woman I have ever met in my bloody life!', which had caused her to bet that he would actually enjoy dating her, and made a bet with him that she could prove it. According to him, he had been drunk, bored, and probably masochistic, as he had agreed on the spot. They had then married a year and a half later.

Richard then said aloud, having managed to calm his wife to some extent, although still not letting go of her waist, "Now then, please go over that night again if you please Lily; maybe you missed something that infuriated them, as I don't think that Severus would have gotten angry at you for considering making-out with another boy...At least, not that much."

Lily, hopeful that her father might be able to help her puzzle through that bloody mess, then repeated what she had told her mother...

* * *

**_One Week Later Saturday July 13th, 1975_**

"So...Mr. Snape, tell me about your interest in my daughter..."

Severus immediately spit out half of the tea he had been sipping at, enjoying a nice sit-down dinner with the Macdonalds, only to be caught off-guard by that question. He was at a bit of a loss, but Mary quickly jumped in, shrieking, "DAD! Don't go embarrassing my boyfriend!"

"I'm sorry Margaret, but..."

"My names not MARGARET! Its MARY!" Interrupted the red-faced teen, likely mortified by her father's question, especially because of the events of the weeks past. 'Has it really only been two wekssince Lily tried to have me killed? It seems like it occured in another lifetime, one before she did it, and I am now in the lifetime after...'

He was so distracted by his ponderings, he was unable to dodge when Mary threw a rather hard roll at her father, which he had ducked successfully. Mary quickly ran over to him, clutching his head to her chest, which Severus certainly liked for reasons other than pure comfort, although he was well aware of her father's glaring at him for it, then she asked him breathlessly, removing his face from its new favorite pair of pillows as she did so, "Are you OK Sev?"

His face went red, and not from pain, and he muttered something indistinguishable about being fine and not needing all of her concern, only for Mary's mom to let out a chuckle and say, "Aw Frank, doesn't that bring back memories?"

The man seemed to sigh, then said, "Yes Julia, its not THOSE memories I'm worried about, its the ones which come AFTER, if you know what I mean..."

Severus quickly excused himself, unable to take either the, quite frankly, hilarious family antics, or the danger of flying rolls, any longer, and went upstairs with Mary still shouting at her dad, but out of embarrassment and love rather than the cold hatred he felt whenever he laid eyes upon Tobias. 'Then there is the issue of the relationship between myself and Mary...'

He still hated what he knew was going to happen in the future, thanks to Lucius' letter, which he had memorized to the point that he could recite it word for word, hating every moment...

_Dear Ms. Macdonald_

_It has come to my attention that, as part of your efforts for the Knighthood, you have managed to attain a fair deal of influence among those who are not in our blessed order; on behalf of Lord Voldemort, I would like you to take advantage of this to our advantage. As you may or may not know, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, intends to oppose our objectives, and is forming an army known as the 'Order of the Phoenix' to hunt us down and likely slay us in the name of the 'Light'. _

_Now, enclosed is a list of names who might be interested in joining this 'Order of the Phoenix'; what the Dark Lord wishes for you to do is to, officially, leave the Knights to form a second organization, not affiliated with the Death Eaters or the Knighthood in any way, and persuade as many of the people on this list to join it by any means necessary. Once you have reached a certain number of members, the Dark Lord himself will invite them all to their rightful place under his banner._

_In the course of fulfilling this mission, you will be given as much money as is necessary to plan any events required for the organization._

_As a side note, it is required that you cease your romantic relationship with one Severus Tobias Snape prior to the construction of this organization, as being in a relationship with a known member of the Knighthood will severely hamper the establishment of said organization._

_Do you accept this offer?_

_Sincerely_

_Lucius Abraxus Malfoy_

In all honesty, Severus hadn't been too against it when Mary had suggested that they accept, as, in her words, 'If I can get out, then once my...organization gets big enough, I can get you out too! Lucius won't be able to do anything about it either, as I'll have the influence to put paid to whatever he tries to pull on us!'

She was right, and it was a great opportunity to both get out of the Knights and get revenge on Dumbledore, by wiping his bloody order of the bloody phoenix off of the face of the bloody map, but that hadn't been the only reason that Severus had agreed. Although he hated admitting it, even to himself, he was hurting badly from Lily's betrayal, and his heart was just too raw to be in a relationship right then, so, if she hadn't suggested it, he would have, and he suspected she knew it and understood. 'Besides, Mary has really taken a shine to it, so she should have the organization big enough by this time next summer, and it couldn't hurt to see other people I suppose...'

Honestly, he gagged at the thought of anyone other than Lily or Mary, for no-one else had ever cared about him enough to be worthy of consideration, and only those two had the level of intellect that he found fascinating, for he hated talking to people who didn't understand what he was saying, on account of their sheer dunderheadedness, but it had sounded good in his head, at least at the time. 'Besides, we will have the rest of the summer until she has to start constructing this organization or whatever, so we can stay together at least until then, even if it isn't really true...'

* * *

**_Three Days Later Tuesday July 16th, 1975_**

'Hmm, let's see, a swish? Or is it a flick? Oh bugger.' Mary was busy trying to remember what she could of the backstabbing betrayer's advice in Charms for what Flitwick had assigned for the Summer when, suddenly, she heard a knock at the door, and her father called out, a little sullenly,

"Er, could we talk pumpkin? I kinda, sorta, wanna apologize for what I said earlier."

Giving the homework up as a bad job, Mary padded over to the door in her flip-flops and opened it, revealing Frank Macdonald, who still looked a little embarrassed, as usual when he apologized, as he hated admitting when he was in the wrong, and had a bit of a tendency to carry grudges, a pair of traits that Mary, to her own embarrassment, knew that she had inheirited as well. She crossed her arms and gave him a pointed look, waiting for him to start talking, which he obliged, saying, "Listen, I wasn't trying to embarrass you or Severus...too much. I just wanted to sorta...test him, you know? If it helps, although he didn't perform that well, I must say that your mother and I are quite taken by him, and he seems to really care about you too."

He then chuckled a little, seeming to get a bit of a weight off of his chest, then said, rambling a lot, "Be careful not to let him get away, because boys like him are pretty hard to find, as I should know. I mean, he has the hormones of most boys his age, but, when I asked him about what he planned to do with you, he gave me this cold look, really chilling you know, and said that he was insulted as to what I was insinuating about him and you. I mean, he clearly knows and is grateful for what we did to get him out of that house with that bloody Toby fellow, but he was willing to risk it to show that he is no bloody coward, and to defend your honor, and stuff like that. Plus, he seems to have a lot of layers, you know; I mean, there are some people, like that Dursley intern I got, who have like one or two layers, then nothing, flat as paper, but he seems to have side after side to him. Hell, he seems to have more sides than there are hours in a day, and that worked just great with me an' your mom..."

Mary laughed lightly at her father's rambling, then said to her father, who was in many ways, still her favorite idol, "Thanks Dad..."

He was clearly turning to leave, but seemed to recall something, then said, "By the way, I heard that you and Severus got into some tiff with the headmaster and that Evans girl; have you thought about what to do about it?"

Mary gave her father a smirk, then said, "Don't worry Dad, I have that under complete control, and have already made plans to...deal with the situation."

Frank looked at her affectionately, then said warmly, "Just remember, what are the Macdonald family guidelines for dealing with an enemy?"

Mary sighed, then recited from memory the code, which her father, a business tycoon, had drilled into her since before she could walk, "Analyze carefully, plan thoroughly, surprise totally, attack ruthlessly, cripple mercilessly and obliterate completely. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know your guidelines by heart; don't worry, Dumbledore won't know what hit him, and neither will Evans."

Her father beamed at her, then said, seriousness in his voice, "Mary, make sure you always remember why you are doing this; what are the guidelines when it comes to dealing with those you care about?

Mary quietly looked down, a little embarrassed, then said softly, "Love completely, cherish greatly, protect steadfastly, guard carefully, avenge brutally..."

"Indeed, now I want you to think about that carefully." Frank said, equally softly, "Remember the time that those kids of one of my unions beat you up?"

As Mary nodded slowly, not particularly liking that memory of when she was five, and a bunch of twelve-year old boys had beaten her up until her bones were broken and she had had to be taken to a hospital for nearly a month, simply because she was the bosses' daughter, and their parents were having problems making ends meet, and had blamed it on their boss, then Frank continued, "And what did I do to punish them?"

Mary grinned a little at that part, feeling it revenge well-deserved, then said, "You fired them, and bought up every single competing firm within a hundred miles, so that they wouldn't be able to get any jobs, right?"

Frank smiled, then said, "Exactly! Now, keep that in mind as you dream your little schemes." He then patted her on the head affectionately, then went downstairs laughing at the memories.

Mary then said softly, "Don't worry Dad, I will be sure to keep that in mind..."

* * *

For once, James Potter was crying, as if he had lost a very old, dear friend, who wasn't named Mulciber, for he was losing him, and there was nothing that he could do to stop it, for there was nothing that all the magic or money in the world would do to change Remus' mind...

_Dear Prongs,_

_I am sorry, but after the last term, I decided to change schools, starting next term, as, if it weren't for sheer luck on their parts, then I would have likely killed Snape and Macdonald in the Shrieking Shack at the end of last term; the incident earlier that year was bad enough, but, if it weren't for said luck, then they would have died, not just gotten scared, but actually died, or have become infected by _Lycanthropy_ like I am, a curse which I would wish upon no other human being, short of Voldemort._

_We don't even know who was truly responsible for it, so I have chosen to leave Hogwarts before someone else tries to use me for a murder attempt; I am truly sorry Prongs, but I don't want to become an inadvertant murderer, and that is the risk which I would be running if I stayed there. _

_I wish you the best in whatever you do._

_Your Friend, _

_Remus Lupin_

James hated that Remus had been forced to leave, and knew that it was the fault of Snape somehow, as he couldn't think of any other reason that he AND Mary would have been in the Shrieking Shack the night of the full moon; Sirius had apologized profusely to the rest of them for having James schedule his date on that same night, and said that he would have made sure he stayed behind if he could, and would have stayed himself if it weren't for McGonagall's unfair detention.

'After all, as much as we hate him, we would never try to ACTUALLY kill him, save for by accident, and he is the only person other than the Hogwarts staff to know of Remus' secret, and he has that blasted contract from Dumbledore preventing him from telling anyone, so it HAS to be him that's responsible...'

* * *

**_One Week Later Tuesday July 23rd, 1975_**

"Will you fall from grace for me, Lily?"

Lily woke up with a start, both happy and concerned at the fact that the dream had finally changed, as it meant that she was making a change, and that she had a hard choice before her. The first part of the dream had been identical to the same one she had been having for months, with the array of symbols, although now with the 'Lying Star' dimmed, just like the one with the seal of crossed swords, but the second part had changed drastically...

_Flashback_

_It was much like the last time, with Lily standing on an island, beside a dark bog, but, unlike before, there was no James, and Lily followed Severus and Mary into the bog, or at least would have, if her path hadn't been blocked by, what appeared to be, an 8-year old Severus Snape, except for this one had black, angelic robes, and wings made of black energy. He seemed to be surrounded by that black energy, which might have scared Lily, if it weren't for the fact that it seemed to illuminate rather than consume, like light rather than darkness, and it made him look like he was shining, rather than truly dark. He quietly looked at her, then said faintly, _

_"Lily, I am glad that you have come, but you cannot follow me..."_

_The Dream-Lily then said, passionately, "No Sev! I have to follow you! I want to, no, I HAVE to save you and protect you! Come back with me into the light!"_

_'Severus' then said sadly, "I am afraid that you cannot save me for the Light, for the Light itself has rejected me, and has made me its enemy. It has sought to destroy me, so I only wish to return the favor, in order to protect myself and those I love. Besides, you cannot follow me, for you are too pure..."_

_'Lily' then said, "TOO pure? What do you mean by 'Too Pure'?"_

_He only looked at her sadly..._

_End Flashback:_

Lily was unable to remember what had followed that point, but at least it meant that the dream she had feared wouldn't come to pass, at least not completely, if she played her cards right, at least, she thought so...

Right before falling back to sleep, her mind touched back on the conversation that she had had with her father and mother after telling them both what had happened between her and Severus, with parts edited out for their sanity's sake...

**Author's Notes: **Just to be clear, once again, Mary isn't evil, but she is certainly going to be a MASSIVE thorn in Lily's side, as, if you look at it from her point of view, Lily had tried to kill Severus, but wasn't getting punished; wouldn't you try as hard as you can to prevent them from crossing paths again if you couldn't incarcerate or kill her?

Both Mary and Severus know that Lucius is just using the building of the organization as an excuse to split them up, but they also know that they have to get out of the organization, and that Severus really is in no condition to date anyone really, after the massive damage his heart took the day before term ended.

Enjoy this chapter, and, for those who are wondering, I suspect that the Summer shouldn't take that many chapters, but be expecting yet another plot twist in a chapter coming soon. I know that a lot of you are awaiting more Lily/Sev goodness, but, like a well-prepared potion, it needs time to come to a boil before it happens...


	31. Much Ado About Letters

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 31**

**Much Ado About Letters**

_I will never lie to him, but I might shade the truth a little..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

_**Tuesday July 23rd, 1975**_

...Her mind touched back on the conversation that she had had with her father and mother after telling them both what had happened between her and Severus, with parts edited out for their sanity's sake...

_Flashback July 6th, 1975_

_Lily's father simply stood there, looking at Lily carefully; he, despite, or maybe because of, his military background, wasn't a man swift to anger or judging. He took his time, weighing the factors, long after his wife had already made her decision, which in this case was a "Good riddance to that lot!", then he finally said carefully, "What do you think Lily? You have told us what happened, but what do you think about it?"_

_Lily couldn't tell him what she had learned in the afterlife, so she focused instead on things that she knew about the two of them in this reality, then said, "Honestly, I don't see Severus getting that angry at me like that out of the blue for no reason; Mary had attacked me, but he yelled at me. Whatever reason he had for calling me that, it must have been a really good one, especially considering that Mary, while she is a hothead, I don't think would go for a lethal attack merely because I was fooling around with James. When you think about it, it doesn't make sense..."_

_'Especially given that, if I WERE to sleep with James, and keep our relationship going, it would have made things even easier for Mary to keep Sev to herself. If anyone had tried to attack me for sleeping with James, it probably would've been Severus, motive-wise, although I doubt that, knowing what I know now, Severus would ever try to attack me on purpose.' Meanwhile, her father seemed to consider that, then said calmly,_

_"You know Marigold, our Lily here has a very good point; what motive would this Mary girl have had for attacking Lily? If Severus felt that what Lily did was worthy of calling her...that, then there is a reasonable chance that he felt that she did something other than what she actually did..."_

_Marigold looked patronizingly at her husband, then said, "Its simple, Mary was jealous because she probably wanted James for her own; I mean, given how nice, well-groomed, and rich he is, as we saw when he came over for Christmas, girls like HER would likely do anything to get someone like that."_

_Lily considered for a moment, not what her mom had said, but the point that she had made about Mary being jealous; Lily knew that Mary had been rather leery of her spending too much time with Severus over the past few months, for obvious reasons now, given how much Lily knew that Severus had cared about her, as Mary might have thought that Severus would have chosen her if they had broken up, and she did say that she had followed, but not who. 'What if Mary, upon witnessing how I stopped James, and how he had told me about his kiss with Sabrina, had realized that I was going to break up with him, and was trying to protect her turf? She could have gone back to Severus' side and told him a whole bunch of lies about me or something, then dragged him back to confront me?'_

_Lily thought about it for a moment, but it seemed far-fetched to seem the least, although, given James' clear, utter surprise to see Mary and Severus there, she couldn't imagine him being at fault, and the other Marauders probably would have told him if they had something planned, and Mary and Severus' position within Slytherin and the rest of the school was rock-solid, so no-one else would have been interested in attacking them in any way, assuming that there was a prank involved..._

_Richard then, after rolling his eyes again, and telling his wife that "That is quite possibly the silliest thing I have heard you say Marigold. Don't you remember how Lily told us over Christmas about how Mary basically leveled Gryffindor house to get back at James and his friends?", then shoeing her away for the moment, so that she could cool down, and think things through, said, "Lily, I just want you to know that I am very proud of you for taking the time to carefully consider this, as things aren't always what they seem at first glance; you could have legitimately given up on Severus, given the facts, but you thought it through and realized that something wasn't right. I was getting worried that, like your mother and sister sometimes, you might jump to conclusions a bit too often, but, when it counts, I am glad to see you didn't. Now, let me go talk with your mother, but, later on, I have a story to tell you that you might want to hear..."_

_End Flashback:_

Although, thanks to having to go and give an instruction course to new pilots, Lily hadn't been able to listen to that story, she had come to the conclusion that she was probably wrong about Mary actually being behind the plan to begin with, although that was a very cold comfort, considering that Lily suspected that she was preventing Severus from reading any of her letters.

Ever since she had gotten her owl back from Sirius, who had borrowed it for a few weeks towards the end of term, she had been sending a letter to Severus every single day, begging him to forgive her, or at least talk to her or tell her what she did wrong, but she hadn't received a single response, although she was able to figure out that there was no way that Mary could be close by, considering that her owl spent nearly twelve hours each day just going back and forth. 'Clearly, she is serious about keeping me from him...'

* * *

**_Two Days Later Thursday July 25th, 1975_**

"Mary, I think we need to talk..."

"Sure Sev, what about?"

"Well...its about what you have been working on all the time for the past couple weeks..."

Frank and Julia Macdonald were secretly executing the oft-denied and highly risky parenting maneuver of 'Spying on one's offspring', with their usual excellent success. As the two teens talked, Julia giggled slightly, and Frank hushed her, wanting to see what Severus had in mind, then Julia whispered, "I know, but its so fun to have a sneaky plan work so well, and witness it! I wonder if Mary or Severus had any idea that he was supposed to eavesdrop on her when the two of you had that conversation..."

Frank sighed, then whispered back, "Yeah, I was worried that he might have missed it when I went over the guidelines with Mary again, considering that he hasn't brought it up yet..."

They then listened as Severus continued speaking, "...Your list, it seems to be...a bit excessive in its methods of persuasion. I mean, I know that you hate Dumbledore..."

Mary looked at him pleadingly, then said, desperation clearly audible, "You can't say that he doesn't deserve it Sev! I know that its wrong to try to get people to join ...whatever we call it, in that way, but I've never had to get some hundred students to join an organization! How could I promise something to them and have it appeal to it all? Besides, its not going to be anywhere near as bad as what the Marauders did to you!"

Severus then, upon her conclusion, put his hand on her arm, drawing her into a light hug, and said calmly, "Be that as it may, you didn't let me finish; I have no qualms with your objective, but your methods are flawed. Remember what happened to the Marauders after our little 'war'? They still haven't recovered, no matter what Potter tries; trying to do that to get people inside is just bullying, and it will either get us in trouble, as we aren't Gryffindors, or just alienate them, despite our popularity. Besides, your plans have no...precision, which is a big problem when your objective is as difficult as this one will be..."

Mary seemed to press herself closer to him, clearly more than a little desperate, and in search of comfort as, from what her parents had seen, ever since they had arrived on holiday, she had been spending nearly four hours a day trying to put together flyers and come up with ideas to get people into some club she had been trying to build. She was clearly out of ideas, and getting a bit excessive in her tactics, if what her parents were hearing was correct. Frank then whispered, "Let's see if he can do as good as you did your first time trying to get me to focus, and calm myself down. Arthur always said that, after that, if I didn't marry you, he would, and, being my dad..." The two shuddered together, "...Well, let's see..."

Julia smirked somewhat, then said, laughing lightly, "Until I met your dad, I never knew that hostile takeovers could be used as a matchmaking tool..." Frank joined in on her laughter for a moment, then began listening to the teens' conversation again.

Meanwhile Severus was saying, "...You don't need to use fear or lying promises to get people to join an organization; just make them think that the organization's opponents are evil." At Mary's frown, Severus said, "Hey, it worked for the Nazis, the Americans and the Soviets in the Muggle world; why wouldn't it work for you? Just make everyone in Hogwarts think that Dumbledore is a wicked man-eating monster, and you will have everyone begging to join you when they realize that you will be fighting him. At the least, it can't hurt..."

Mary seemed to think about that, then nodded, saying, a grin slowly spreading across her face, "Yeah...That sounds like it might work well..."

As Mary looked back up at him, her parents 'Awww'ed softly at the 'I love you' eyes that she had showing, as she smirked mischieviously, and the caring smile on Severus' face, then Mary whispered something in Severus' ear, and they heard him say aloud, almost too soft to hear, as a wide grin split his face, "I really hope that your parents didn't hear what you just suggested to me..."

At this, Mary shrugged, then grabbed his hand, saying, just barely audibly, "Oh come on, its not like we will get that many more opportunities..."

Severus then said, "True, OK then."Then the two of them quickly ran inside, hand in hand, from the balcony that they had been talking on.

Frank was about to follow them, worried that Mary had something in mind that he probably wouldn't approve of, and had already started the 'threatening father' walk, but his wife grabbed him and said, "Don't worry Frank; Mary is fifteen, and she isn't foolish..." He was considering brushing past her, when something that the two teens had sai, or rather, not said, flashed into his mind, and he said, wondering,

"Hey Julia, didn't you send Severus upstairs to deliver Mary that tea before I started the 'talk'?"

Julia seemed to shrug, "I could have sworn I did, but then again, I think he might have thought that Mary was in the East Wing's Library, why?"

Frank then said with a frown, "Because neither of them mentioned Mary's plans for, I think it was Severus' stalker, lunatic ex-girlfriend, Evans or something..." He thought for a moment, then shrugged, saying, "...Ah well, its probably nothing. After all..." He smirked, "...I remember when you had that jerk Henry after you, the one who cheated on you right before you broke up with him and dated me..."

Julia was obviously fighting a grin, as she said teasingly, "Frank, did you do something...bad?"

Frank put on his innocent face again, "Oh nothing dearest, I just may have mentioned to his travel agent that he wanted to vacation in Greenland rather than Hawaii is all. It wasn't anything special..."

Julia laughed at that, then seemed to think for a moment, before saying, a little dramatically, "Oh gosh darn it, I suppose that its time for bed..." She then gave him a quick, yet intense, kiss on the lips and walked upstairs to their bedroom, after turning to give him a smoldering gaze...

Frank was about to follow, but gazed a moment in the direction of where the teens had gone. 'Oh well, what's the worst that Mary could do to her?' He then smirked, worried for Severus' sake a little 'I hope Severus can handle Mary, she CLEARLY inherited her mother's tendency to get turned on by clever scheming, and brilliant schemers... Now then, let's see if, tonight, Julia and I can get a boy for the set...' He quickly followed his wife upstairs, glad that the thick walls made their bedroom almost soundproof...

* * *

**_Five Days Later Tuesday July 30th, 1975_**

"OK Lily, I think its time that I told you that story; you too Petunia, this is important."

"Aw, come on dad, I was going to go out on a date with Vernon today..."

"I've been meaning to tell it for a while now pumpkin, just never got around to it, so I guess you will just have to wait twenty minutes..." Richard then muttered, "Besides, its not like any of you girls are ever less than thirty minutes late on your dates anyway, too much like your mother..."

"I HEARD THAT!"

Lily grinned as her father apologized to his wife, pleased that the story was going to be told to her the same day that her dad got back from a nearly month-long trip for the R.A.F. Apparently, he felt that it was very important, if he was doing it so soon after getting back...

He then sat them down in front of him on the couch, as he went upstairs and, after about five minutes, came back down carrying a small box, about two feet deep, six inches tall, and a foot long; he then opened it, and inside could be seen a large number of what appeared to be letters. Lily and Petunia each took out one and looked it over...

_March 23rd, 1942_

_Dear Richard,_

_How have you been doing? Did you ever marry that blond chick with the large knockers that you were talking about? Helga something or other. If so, when this is all over, send me a postcard of where you guys went! Anita is wondering where and if I will be marrying her, so I could use some ideas._

_My flight group was just transferred to the Eastern Front, so I'm really glad, as it has been scary wondering if you are alright, although those Bolsheviks can be quite brutal, you know? Ah well, hope it all ends well!_

_Sincerely,_

_Heinrich_

As Lily looked at her dad, puzzled, he started talking, "You are probably wondering who that Heinrich fellow is; well, he was a penpal of mine back when I was young like the two of you, in the nineteen-thirties. I started writing to him for a school assignment, where our class was to write to a boy or girl from Germany. We were very close, so to speak, and told each other everything, our first kiss, our first girlfriend, the first time...ahem. Well, we would write each other every other week, up until about oh...September 1939."

Lily wondered aloud, "What happened then?"

Petunia then snorted, rolling her eyes, "Lily, don't you remember what was happening at that point; honestly, you don't pay any attention to your own history anymore. That was when we went to war with the Germans, you know, WWII."

Richard continued, "Indeed, Heinrich then joined the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, in spite of the fact that we would be on the opposite sides, and it put a bit of a strain on our friendship; when the war broke out, I was in quite a conundrum, after the 'Phony War' period of the war was complete especially, for that is when the Battle of Britain began, and a lot of my fellow pilots were more than a little disgruntled that I was still writing letters to a member of the same Air Force that was trying to bomb us into submission. Obviously neither of us were able to send letters to the other anymore, but I kept writing letters to him throughout the war, like a diary in some ways, telling him how I was doing, what was going on, etc., although I wasn't sure that I would ever actually send them, as I wasn't sure that we were still friends."

Petunia then asked, obviously curious despite herself, "What happened after the war?"

Richard then sighed, before saying, "A few months later, I was still afraid to send my letters, as I was afraid that we were no longer friends, when I received all the letters in this box from his family, as well as this picture and a message telling me that he had died near the end of the war, in the futile attack by the Luftwaffe during the Battle of the Bulge. Apparently, he had never forgotten me at all, and he felt that we were still friends, in spite of being on opposite sides, as he had left the letters to me and the ring I ended up using to propose to your mom." He then paused for a moment, as the air of suspense built, as the girls waited for the punch-line, before saying, "Ah well, that's all that I wanted to say."

Petunia and then shouted, "And was there a point to this story? Any moral that you wanted to mention?"

Richard shrugged, "Not really, its just food for thought for the two of you; anyone can take a story and find the message that they want, so I'll let you two get to it."

As he got up, Lily then asked, curious, "Dad, did you ever regret staying friends with Heinrich?"

Her father smiled, eyes staring off into the distance, then said, "Not in the slightest, because, for me, he was more important than the war, or whose side we were on. He was a good man, and a great friend, and that was all that mattered to me."

Lily smiled to herself, then said softly as the rest of her family left the room, "Severus, maybe I wasn't such a good friend last time around, but this time, I will be the best friend that you always deserved, and hopefully more. I just wish that you could reply to my letters..."

* * *

**_Two Weeks Later Tuesday August 13th, 1975_**

"MARY!"

Mary was running pell-mell down the stairs, towards her, soon to be ex, boyfriend, who was standing at the base of the stairs looking completely shocked at something in his hand, a letter of some sort, which was open, giving Mary a sinking feeling. 'Oh no, don't tell me that he finally decided to read one of HER letters...Wait a minute, she doesn't have the Hogwarts crest on her postage, does she?'

He then looked at her and whispered, "I'm a prefect now. I mean, there are only four boys in our year in Slytherin, but I was the one chosen..."

Mary, surprised to hear it too, but no less thrilled, quickly hugged Severus, saying, "And you deserve it too, I'm very proud of you Severus..." She then shouted, causing him to wince as her mouth was right next to his ear, "MOM! DAD! SEVERUS MADE PREFECT!"

Her parents quickly appeared, beaming, and her father said, "Well then, I suppose that this means that we will have to go out tonight and celebrate! Our treat!"

Severus looked embarrassed and said, "Um, I don't know, I don't have much to wear..."

Frank only laughed, then said, "Don't worry! We have PLENTY of clothes, unless you ask Julia here!...Just kidding dearest! Even if we can't find anything that will fit, we can then go shopping and make Julia happy. I refuse to let a newly minted prefect in our household go without a good set of dress clothing!"

The two parents then left the room, starting to make plans to go clothes shopping, although, to Mary's eyes, Frank's eyes looked a little glazed over, causing her to smirk. 'Men...' Meanwhile, she noticed that another owl was coming in, to her annoyance, as it was Evans' owl. Severus went over to it and grabbed the letter, swallowing, then said "Could you open and tell me the gist of it Mary?", like he had ever since the first letter Lily had sent, for he still hadn't been able to harden his heart enough to protect herself from Lily's lies. Mary then picked it up and started reading...

_Dear Severus,_

_Just like the past...I don't know how many letters, I just want you to know that I am really, truly sorry for whatever you think that I have done to you, and I really want to talk to you so I can make it up to you. Could you please, please, PLEASE forgive me and be my friend again!? I hope that, whatever I did, we can get past this and be friends again._

_Um, I just want you to know that I love you very much and always want to be your best friend. Please write to me so that we can work this out, whatever it is about!_

_With all of my love,_

_Lily_

_P.S. PLEASE!_

Mary thought it over for a moment, thinking of the best way to put it, then said quietly and understandingly, "Well, she refuses to admit that she committed the crime, pretending she doesn't understand by saying 'Whatever you think that I have done to you', and she just wants you to get past it and write back to her, just like the rest of the letters she sent."

Severus then sighed, muttering, "Would it kill her to show some remorse, any at all?"

He then said disgustedly, "Come on Mary, let's go outside, we have a bit of time before we have to go shopping..."

Mary then said, "OK Sev, just give me a minute."

As he then went over to get his boots, she popped over to the fireplace and tossed the letter in. 'Hmmph! Nice try Lily, but I've got your number; I am going to make sure that he doesn't have to cry again because of you. I'm not gonna let you see him again until you tell ME what the hell you were thinking, doing that to Sev!' Sighing, she then thought to herself, 'I really hate having to shade the truth like that, but it is for Severus' own good!'

She then smiled as she got her own boots on, and said, "Come on Sev! I'll race you to the river...!"

**Author's Note: **In case you are wondering, as of the end of this chapter, Severus is still a virgin, that is all I am saying on the subject though.

Mary isn't lying, but, as the quote from her at the beginning of the chapter states, she is certainly shading the truth, and omitting parts of the letter.

For those of you who are looking for more Lily/Severus interaction, that will be arriving within the next three chapters, and probably no more than two...


	32. An Agreement Between Rivals

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 32**

**An Agreement Between Rivals**

_All I can do is believe in him..._

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_One Week Later Tuesday August 20th, 1975_**

_"You pathetic little worm! How could you possibly think that we could be friends after what you did to James!? You are just a worthless Dark Arts-obsessed, Slytherin, and you dared to humiliate the only person who could possibly be worthy of my love! That is why you deserved to die!" Lily said this angrily, wand pointed at Severus as he had his back to a wall, then he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and saw his blood gushing out of it, onto the floor as he collapsed._

_Lily then continued cruelly, "Eventually Mary and all the rest of your friends will realize what it took me so long to realize! You are a pathetic, worthless NOTHING!"_

_She then started to laugh as Severus' vision slowly dimmed and he fell to the ground de-_

"AHHH!"

Severus woke up with a scream, head whipping around to make sure that he had been only having another nightmare. His heart raced for a few moments, before he saw that he was indeed alone and there were no demon-Lilys there, then he heard the sounds of running outside his room and, almost quicker than apparition, Mary appeared in the doorway. He looked away and she sighed, saying, "Lily again? What was it this time?"

Severus didn't say anything, looking intently at the wall nearby until he felt the mattress beneath him shift slightly as she sat beside him; he turned to look at her and she seemed to be waiting for him to talk, which he did after another few moments, "I know that it shouldn't hurt after all this time, but it still does; I mean, what if, just what if, someone else was behind it and she misunderstood what we were talking about? Its driving me practically insane, and I just can't let it go; the odds may be far against it, and Lily may be all but admitting that she did it in her letters, but I just want to know, now, not when I graduate."

Mary looked at him sadly, then said softly, "But its almost certain that she did do it, that she did try to kill you. Is it really that important to you to remove that 'almost' from it? I mean, look at it this way, at least now you can pretend to yourself that she might not have been that callous or cold, and it was someone else or an accident; could you really take it if she told you to your face that she did it? Or why she thought you deserved to die? Its better this way, trust me, I've been thinking and she is the only one who had the motive, the opportunity, AND the means to trick you into the Shrieking Shack. I mean, no-one else could have done it, as they wouldn't have been able to fake it, could they?"

Severus looked down into his hands and tried to ignore the stabbing pain that he 'felt', then said, "I know, I mean, it was most assuredly her's, and no-one else could have replicated it so perfectly, but..."

Mary then said swiftly, "No but's! Look, there is no point in trying to second-guess it, as next we will be blaming it on Sirius or Peter or Dumbledore! I mean, she came up to the Shrieking Shack, and was angry to see that you were alive and that I followed you! I could see it on her face!"

Severus looked over at his girlfriend and did something he truly hated doing, he pleaded with her, "Listen Mary, you are most likely right, but maybe she was, I don't know, pressured by James into doing it some way, or she didn't know about Remus and we weren't supposed to come out of the Shack! I just don't know, and that's what hurts most of all! Even if she did do it for some malicious, cruel reason, at least I would KNOW why she did it! Please Mary, help me find out somehow!"

Mary looked at the ground at her feet and sighed, before saying, "Fine, you're being stupid in my opinion, but if it means that much to you..."

She then stomped out of the room, clearly annoyed, but Severus only smiled and said, hopefully audible to her ears, "Thanks Mary..."

He then decided to go back to sleep, but was prevented from that by a particularly bright star's light shining almost exactly in his eyes. Cursing, he turned over and muttered aloud, "Stupid Sirius, even as the bloody dog star you enjoy tormenting me..."

* * *

**_Three Days Later Sunday August 23rd, 1975_**

Lily sighed as she sent the break-up letter she had written to James; although they had only been together for eight or nine months in this time-line, she didn't want to hurt him any more than she had to in breaking up with him, as a favor to the James who she had loved in the other time-line. She would have done it earlier, but she had been sending her owl out every single day to try to beg anew for Severus' forgiveness, or at least an explanation. 'At least I finally got my confirmation that Mary has been intercepting all of my letters to him, unless he had her read them with him...'

Yesterday, she had received a letter from Mary by owl, saying simply,

_Dear Evans,_

_It is clear from your letters that you have no intention of giving up on your plans to torment Severus and are only pretending to be guilty, however, Severus thinks that you might be innocent, so I am willing to have a single conversation with you in Knockturn alley, where it meets Diagon Alley on the thirtieth of August, where you will be given the chance to either prove your 'innocence', or at least give a reason for your dastardly deeds._

_If you choose not to show up, then I hope that, for your sake, you either give up on trying to bother Severus with any contact with you, or that you have a great tolerance for pain, as I will take that as a confession of guilt without reason._

_Mary_

While it had been far from the nicest letter she had ever received from Mary, at least she had her chance to prove her innocence, or, if she wasn't innocent, find out what she had done on accident. 'It had better be a very big thing that 'I' did, or I am going to be bloody ticked off at having to go through all this for no reason!' She calmed herself down a moment. 'Don't forget Lily, jealous or not, hothead or no, Mary has never gone after someone for no good reason, and I basically agreed to whatever she thought I was doing when we last spoke in person; she probably has something that is worth getting very angry about as a reason. Now then, I have a letter to write to James.'

Lily took a moment to reflect on all the best times of their relationship...And none of them were with this James. 'I guess that that says a lot about this one, although the other one apparently had a lot more to answer for than I thought too, as did I. How could I have been so blind, both to how Severus felt and to James' actions? If Severus, after my betrayal of him and our promise of 'friends forever' was still willing to give up on his dreams, and possibly his life, just to make it as sure as possible that I would live, because he loved me so much, then how could I have missed it all along? How could I have missed the fact that, even after he had won me, James hadn't stopped bullying Severus?'

She sighed, looking out the window she was sitting near, by her bed. 'I really was a complete idiot; when I think about it, there must have been loads of signs as to how he felt, but I was too used to James' screaming it to the heavens to notice Severus' signals whispering in the wind. I'll bet that everyone I knew was sure that Sev, at the least, fancied me, but I, brilliant overachiever Lily, never noticed it, and I thought that he was the one in our friendship who wasn't that good with feelings. He loved me enough to die for me, even after I had given up on him, and it took me two lifetimes and him and James' saying it straight to my face before I figured it out.'

She then remembered what her dad had told her about his penpal and laughed ruefully. 'My dad had it right long before I was even born, there are things more important than sides and good and evil, such as faith and friendship. He spent six years keeping as a friend a man who was trying to destroy everything he loved and vice-versa who he couldn't see, or even know if his friend felt the same way, nor was he probably half as close as Severus and I, and my dad never regretted it, while I regretted losing Severus' friendship to my dying day and beyond.'

Her laughter turned bitter as she cradled her foolish head in her hands. 'Heh, I never even lost it, I threw it away, even though he didn't, and I thought that he had given up on our friendship, when really, any day I felt like it I could have just extended my hand and I would have had him back as my best friend instantaneously, or his hand in marriage in the time it took to find a priest had I felt like it. It would have been so easy, yet I cast it aside in my blindness and lack of belief in him, while he stayed strong in his feelings for me.'

She looked out the window, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Severus was looking in her direction from wherever he was, then whispered to herself, "Now I am finally in your shoes Sev, I am the one waiting in the cold dark, hoping desperately that you will forgive me. I just hope that I prove myself half as worthy of your forgiveness as you were of mine. It is no longer simple or easy, but I will just have to have faith, and hope that you choose to forgive me..."

* * *

**_One Week Later Sunday August 30th, 1975_**

Arcturus Mulciber gave a feral, malicious grin to himself, as he quickly walked back towards his room after Flooing in from Diagon Alley, flopping down on his king-size bed. 'How dare that Lily...Mudblood girl do something like that to Severus Snape!? I let her off the hook before because she WAS his friend, but now its open season on Lily Evans! I'll bet that the rest of the Knights will be positively thrilled...

_Flashback:_

_Arcturus had been buying another few pairs of robes, as, to his disappointment, he had found it necessary to wear the same pair more than once in a week a time or two, and wanted to avoid it, when Severus Snape walked by, looking somewhat happy, but he had this air of sadness about him, which had caused Arcturus to ask him, "Hey Severus, how are things going with you, Mary and Lily? Trying to score two girls at once from what I see! Gonna try the old Bigamilus Selwyn law with the two of them? Heh, even for Muggleborns, they aren't all that bad, kinda like prize showgnomes if you think about it..."_

_He had realized that he had put his foot deep, deep into his mouth about the moment that Severus, who prided himself on never showing emotions, looked like he had just gotten a spear shoved into his gut..._

_End Flashback:_

"Ugh, I can't believe her!"

"Believe what Arcturus?" Arcturus whirled around to see his girlfriend, Selene, standing there, and he realized that she must have been planning to surprise him, considering that the dress that she wore was...lacking certain attributes, and he was certain that his parents were away...

He carefully took a quick scan of her cleavage, which was well in evidence, to a smirk on her part, then said, "You see, Lily Evans apparently tried to hurt Severus, probably very bad, considering that he is still broken up about it, TWO MONTHS AFTER THE FACT! Apparently, what she did was so bad that Severus, the boy who NEVER gives up on his friends, gave up on her, and she has yet to show the slightest bit of remorse, yet she wants him to forgive her, like she is his master or something!"

Selene frowned, then said, "I do believe that the Mudblood needs to know her place."

Arcturus most certainly agreed...Letters to the rest of the Knighthood would most assuredly be in order, especially because Severus and Mary's little protection agreement only was a factor if they were still friends...

* * *

"Aw, come on James, keep that rather arrogant chin of yours up. Its not the end of the world just because you and Lily are no longer dating, is it?" Sabrina smirked as she traced her hand up James' arm while she said this, which made him give her a glare that was just a little bit short of appearing even remotely genuine. "Whether you want to admit it or not, in your stubborn pride, you are all but over her, and you know it. You're just angry that you can't have her, like a little girl who can't have the doll she wants."

James, incensed, said hotly, "I am not a little girl! Nor am I even remotely close to over her! I'll have you know that I will love her until-"

Sabrina, bored at his posturing already, gave him a quick, firey kiss on the lips, which he opened his mouth to, possibly to continue his protests, but given the fact that his tongue was touching her lips, probably not...

"Come on Prongs, even Moony here doesn't believe you, and he hasn't even seen the lip-lock. Give it a rest already, we have bigger problems than your being stubborn..." Peter said this, laughing, while Sirius merely looked over, depressed, then turned away, causing Sabrina to feel a, very short, moment of pity, as she knew what it was like to have your dreams dashed, as he had dashed hers when she had found out how he was only using her to get to Mary.

She couldn't be too sure, as she was becoming rather distracted, as his kisses were dizziness-inducing, a skill probably gained from a great deal of practice with Lily, a fact that she didn't mind in the least, as Lily had given James up, and Sabrina had taken him, but she was fairly sure that he had given Peter a salute with only his middle finger, a gesture which had become rather popular lately, apparently meaning something along the lines of 'to hell with you!', 'bugger off!' or something like that. Nonetheless, she said, withdrawing from the lip-lock in a moment of pity for Sirius, "Come on James, we have to get going, and dealing with your denial period will stop us from getting our books and the like, so let's get to it, and we can see if we can get you past Lily later tonight."

James, rather cockily, agreed, then Sirius, sniffed the air, for a moment giving her the impression of a dog, then said, "Well Snivellus, I see that your aroma hasn't improved over the summer at all; how is the little snakey feeling?"

Severus ignored him and was about to walk past him, when Remus said softly, apologetically, just audible from where she was standing, "Um, I just want you to know Severus, that I decided to transfer out of Hogwarts, effective the day after tomorrow, so that that incident at the end of term doesn't repeat itself."

Severus paused for a moment, then Sabrina heard him scathingly say in a tone just over a whisper, "Then you are being a fool, for it wasn't your fault what happened, only the fault of the mastermind. I don't blame you for it, and neither does Mary, although I do think that you could use a new place..." He then glanced back, before saying with a sneer, "...If you will excuse me, I have better things to do than to persuade a fool that he is being a fool, so you morons had better get to it."

Sabrina, although confused at the subject that they were talking about, was nowhere near as shocked as the Marauders, as the looks on their faces seemed to imply...

* * *

"So...What did you want to know Mary?"

"Hmm..." Mary thought it over; truth be told, she was mostly here because she had promised Severus that she would help him get some closure, but she had to make Lily believe that she was vulnerable so that she might reveal something she shouldn't. If she could get enough evidence, then even Dumbledore would be forced to act, as, if she managed to get enough evidence to secure a conviction in the court of law, then, even if she were expelled, the next headmaster would certainly let her back inside."...Well, I would like to know what happened the night of the thirtieth of June, as I am sure that you can guess. Tell me everything that you did."

Lily thought it over for a moment, then said, "Well, I was going out on a date with James at about seven-ish, to see if our relationship had anything left that was worth salvaging, it went fairly well, we made small talk, had a romantic dinner, etcetera, then he tried to um..." Mary would have laughed before the incident at the blush that now graced Lily's face, before Lily continued, "...seduce me, whereupon I found that I was most assuredly no longer attracted to him, then he told me about how he had kissed Sabrina, and I found that I didn't even care. We then left the hotel we had rented, originally paid for for the whole night, and we went to the Shrieking Shack, planning on taking that route back to Hogwarts, but we ran into you and Severus."

She bit her lip then, and said quietly, "If you two hadn't both shown up then and there, I probably would have broken up with James and tried to confess my love to Severus, I hope that you can forgive me for it, planning to steal your boyfriend that is."

Mary then frowned; while her chain of events was rather convoluted, it would still have given her plenty of time...But if she hadn't known about Remus, then it might, just maybe, have been an accident, and Lily had informed to them to go there, not knowing about the werewolf there, as she could have done it at any point before the date, and possibly during it, and figured that her date with James would be a bust, but tried anyway, just to make sure. If she had been planning to try and take Severus, then she would have been very embarrassed and angry that he had brought his girlfriend along.

She chuckled internally 'Hell, I would have been thrilled to see her take such a huge risk, as either she would have won, after a long, hard struggle, or I would have, but either way he would have gotten a girlfriend that he deserved, at least, if what I am thinking hapened is the case...Nonetheless, there is far more evidence against her than there is evidence for her. Still, maybe there is an option for this, I can provide her the key to the gate in the wall, but make it so that she can only open it if it was an accident...'

Mary looked back at Lily, appraisingly, then said calmly, "Fine then, show me proof of either your good intentions or innocence from what happened, and I will be happy to let you speak to Severus."

Lily seemed surprised, then said, "What would you accept as proof?"

Mary thought it over, before saying with a shrug,"Either something that indicates that you had no idea what would happen that night, or something that indicates that what you did was accidental. However, Severus is still hurting badly from what he suspects that you did, and I don't think that he could take seeing you at the moment..." That was a lie, but she still wasn't ready to trust Lily with Severus' life again, then she continued, "...As such, I want you to agree to my terms; leave Severus alone unless he wants to talk to you, or the school makes it necessary for the two of you to communicate, like classes and such, and I will back off on my planned revenge for you..." At the last bit, she gave off a truly evil smile, the better to persuade Lily.

Mary then said with all the certainty she could imbue into her voice, "Before you ask, I can't talk about the incident, literally, and I can't tell you why, but you, as my friend, will have to trust me when I say that it is a very good reason."

Lily clearly thought it over carefully, obviously more than a little confused by Mary's response, then said with a heavy sigh, "As long as you promise not to encourage him to avoid me, that will be fine..." She extended her right arm and hand, then said, "Deal?"

Mary didn't feel that it was necessary anymore to encourage Severus to avoid her, so she said, "Sure, that's fine." Then she shook Lily's hand in agreement.

They, with little else to do, the two bid each other farewell, and Mary started to leave, grinning ear to ear. 'That went very well; there are three possibilities now, either she finds something that proves that it was an accident, she was guilty and didn't care, making this meaningless, or she had no idea what I was talking about, in which case...I suppose it wasn't the best it could go, but two out of three wasn't bad, and I managed to secure Severus' safety completely. She agreed not to try and bother Sev unless he wanted to, or it was for classes. Too bad that she doesn't know that I got permission from Dumbledore to have, for all the classes where Slytherin would be paired up with Gryffindor, us work with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs! If she is innocent, then it shouldn't be a problem, but if she is guilty, then I can make her suffer as she deserves and she will still be bound by her own word to leave him alone!'

Her contemplations were interrupted by the pleading screams of what sounded like..."Remus!?"

**Author's Note: **Ooh, cliffie again; luckily, Mary has decided to give Lily a chance, unluckily, she thinks that Lily did do it and it was an accident... Unfortunately, misinterpretations don't always stay where we want them to, for they rather like to spread...


	33. The Path of Blood

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 33**

**The Path of Blood**

_We shall walk the path of blood to protect those we care for, without any remorse..._

**__**

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**

**_Sunday August 30th, 1975_**

Mary ran as quickly as she could in the direction of Remus' panicked screams, dodging past everyone in her way as fast as she could without risking crashing into them; while she couldn't say that she was particularly fond of the cowardly lion, given how he was either unwilling or unable to stand up to his friends in any real way, that didn't mean that she could leave him to suffer.

If she left him to rot, that would make her no better than he was, and she knew Severus wouldn't leave him like that as, over the term past, he had developed something of a heroic streak with how he was always finding reasons to avoid letting the Knights get out of hand when he was in their presence, something which was making him rather popular among the other students of the school, especially the female ones to Mary's annoyance, and probably was part of the reason that led to him getting the prefect badge. 'Ironic, most of the students of the school always used to call him a greasy, snivelling coward, and now he is one of the most admired people in school, if not the most admired...'

Speaking of Severus, she suddenly saw him dashing toward an alleyway on her left at top speed, which confused her because it was in a different direction from Remus' cries for help, as such she immediately yelled, "Hey Sev! Where are you going!?"

Glancing back, he shouted, "Mary! This way! If we go this way we can cut them off! Hopefully before they catch Lupin!"

Mary shouted back as she started to follow him, "What do you mean, hopefully!? And who's they!?"

"I don't know! It was a bunch of thugs in ratty clothing! At least ten of them! They tried to jump Lupin, but the 'Marauders' managed to buy Lupin enough time to run! Come on, let's move before they get him!"

Mary followed him, but frowned as she did so. 'Ten of them huh? Severus had better have something in mind, as, even considering Remus as a combatant, which, considering his lack of combat experience, he really isn't, those are EXTREMELY bad odds...' After a moment, she asked,

"Do you have a plan, because we would be outnumbered by more than three to one, and they are all probably adult wizards, or are you trying to pull a Potter?" As she said the last, Severus laughed slightly with a rather fond look on his face, for 'to pull a Potter' had become a slang term in Slytherin house signifying jumping right into a lose-lose situation when it could be avoided. Needless to say, Severus had done his best to spread that little phrase all around Hogwarts as much as possible...

After he was finished laughing, Severus seemed to think for a bit, then said slowly, "I am pretty sure that we would be fighting in a narrow alleyway, so that would help deal with the numbers problem, and, based on the fight between them and the Marauders, they can't be that good, as Pettigrew wasn't doing all that badly against them. Plus, we would only have to hold them up until the Ministry arrives, so I think our odds aren't that bad..."

Mary considered, then said worriedly, "Even so, I don't know how long we can hold them up using only the stuff we used on the Marauders. I mean, even ten Pettigrews would be more than we can handle, considering how much he had improved towards then end of our little war against the Marauders..."

Severus nodded grimly, then said, "I know; I don't plan on sacrificing myself for Lupin either, but I have no problem sacrificing them for him if it should prove necessary...'

Mary glanced at him, then said quietly, with a touch of uncertainty, as she had come to regret trying to use those possibly lethal spells the night of the murder attempt when she had lost her temper, "You mean, killing them...?"

He looked back at her, and she could see the coldness in his eyes, then he said, "Yes, if that's what it takes to protect him, then kill them all, every last one..."

She was uncertain still, but followed him until they reached the point where he had mentioned; they could already see Remus running towards them, not more than five hundred feet away, and Severus quickly _Accio_'ed some nearby junk, doing his best to create some form of cover, then, as Remus drew closer, Severus said, ducking behind a bit of garbage as he did so, "Mary, you may regret this..."

Mary interrupted hotly, while she crouched down next to him, "Becoming a killer? Of course I will have regrets about it!"

Severus then looked back at her a moment, saying softly, "...But you would regret NOT doing it even more; they still have too many to defeat unless we can thin their numbers somehow. If we don't kill off some of them, then Lupin and us will probably lose all of our lives. As such, to prevent that scenario, their lives are a sacrifice that I am willing to make..."

Mary swallowed, still troubled, then looked over and said, with all the firmness she could muster, "Less than a hundred feet from us; let's get started once Remus reaches us. I don't want him to get caught in the crossfire..."

Severus nodded at that, then, right as Remus reached them by jumping over the wall of junk which they had created, clearly surprised to see them, a stray spell hit him and Remus was bound with a great many chains, preventing any real movement...

* * *

Severus cursed as Lupin fell to the ground in front of him; their numbers had shrunken to a mere two combatants, and he was starting to realize that he had underestimated the number of attackers. He quickly whispered to Mary, "We probably can't hold off any more than six with nonlethal attacks, so let's thin their numbers. Now, three, two, one, attack."

The two of them hopped up and Severus fired off a quick _sectumsempra _spell at one of the mob of attackers, which slashed a couple of inches deep into his target's throat, killing him almost-instantly, and causing his life-blood to geyser out, almost hitting Severus with the spray because they were so close.

Simultaneously, Mary fired a _confringo _spell; while the normal Confringo was dangerous enough, Mary had managed to take its destructive power to new heights. While the regular edition caused whatever it touched to explode, her's penetrated just a little bit before exploding; this meant that, rather than causing explosive flesh wounds on the skin, her's would explode inside the target. This meant that it would typically kill the target instantly, as the blast now had the necessary force to rip several inches into the target, and spread out nearly a foot across. Even a hit on the hand or the arms would sever an artery with that kind of blast radius, and in any kind of vital area, it would be instantaneously lethal. 'Still, her spell needs to hit, and it is only a ray-type attack, while my _sectumsempra _is a giant slashing ray...'

Immediately afterward, before the enemies could start fighting back, Severus yelled, _"Contego cum Umbra!" _His spell, which he had spent nearly two months creating, had been altered significantly from its original version. He had gotten the idea for the new version from Muggle one-way glass, and it now created a wall of shadows that was opaque from one side and transparent from the other. Upon the wall's erection, he and Mary continued their punishing barrage, and managed to take out a few more of them before they were able to slip into the surrounding buildings, gaining cover.

Right about now, Severus and Mary had planned to retreat and let the Ministry, which was probably no more than a ten or so minutes away, sort the attackers out, but whatever spell that they had put on Lupin, it was a very annoying one indeed, and it was one that Severus definitely wanted to learn in the future. It seemed to be a variant of _incarcerous_, but significantly more advanced, as the chains seemed to prevent any form of movement whatsoever, and made it so that Lupin weighed about a ton, making him impossible to transport, especially as lightening and hovering charms weren't working.

What all this meant was that Severus and Mary were pinned in place unless they wanted to see Lupin get captured, and possibly killed, which wasn't a decision that Severus was ready to make, although he knew that he would have to make it sooner or later. As a barrage of attack spells demolished the barricades which they had been hiding behind, nearly killing the lot of them if it weren't for some creative dodges and blocks he knew that that would be a decision that he would have to make very soon indeed. 'Come on Severus! There has to be some way to save us all...!'

* * *

James and Lily ran down the alleyway as fast as they could; after they had knocked him to the ground, dazed, the thugs, probably werewolves, had immediately chased after Remus. James had been pretty lucky, as Sirius had nearly gotten killed by a _Reducto_ which had just missed his heart, and Peter had gotten both of his legs broken, before they had both gotten knocked out. Lily suddenly said, sounding surprisingly calm considering the circumstances, "James, you said that there were fifteen of them, correct? Most likely werewolves; were they all armed with wands?"

He thought for a moment, then nodded, saying, "Yes, and yes. I saw Snivellus go off in another direction for some reason; he was probably hiding like the coward he is..."

After listening to Snape calling Lily...that, James had lost all traces of sympathy and respect for the Slytherin boy, even considering that Snape had clearly thought that Lily was responsible for whatever had happened; Dumbledore had carefully asked him about Lily and his actions over the course of the entire evening, but hadn't told him what Snape had accused her of, before saying that Snape was probably incorrect, but there wasn't sufficient proof. 'I can't believe that he had so little faith in Lily as he did! I mean, if it were me, I would trust any of my friends, Sirius, Remus or Peter, with my life! I'd never even think of accusing them of anything like that!'

James then noticed Lily glaring at him as she continued running, before saying, anger clearly audible in her voice, but also that same calmness as before, "You alerted the Hit Wizards in the area, correct?"

James frowned, then said, "No, but I think that Snivellus threw up a bunch of red sparks, so he probably did..."

Lily then looked ahead, saying, "Nevermind." James followed her eyes and saw a shower of red sparks in the sky ahead, probably no more than half a mile from them, which gladdened him as, even though he didn't want to tell Lily, he was becoming quite exhausted with the running involved, and he was panting severely. For some reason though, Lily, although clearly tired herself, seemed to have reserves of stamina still, or maybe she was running like that for some other reason, as she didn't slow even slightly.

Soon, they started to see the signs of a wizard's battle, easily recognizable by the streaks of light, red, green, orange and sliver, going into and out of what looked like a black wall. He kept running, then, as his vision became clearer, he stopped, horrified at the sight; the area where the battle was occuring looked like the contents of a butcher's shop, with five dead on the ground, not, as James had always expected to see, a small amount of blood, or maybe even none at all if it was from an _Avada Kedavra_, but rather a sight that was far more brutal...

Three of Remus' attackers had died from what looked like massive slashing wounds, running along their back, their neck, or other vital areas, causing blood to gush out of them in a spray, while the others...the others looked like someone had put a bomb next to parts of them. One of them had a crater where the stomach used to be, and had her guts spilling out of it, while the other one had multiple similar wounds, one which had clearly blown off the arm, another where the legs had been hit, and a third in the back. 'That...that is DISGUSTING!'

He was about to rush forward, but Lily held him back, scanning the windows and doorways around them with business-like precision. Following her gaze, James saw that the rays of green light were now coming from several windows, at ground level, all aimed at the black wall; suddenly, Lily ran forward and, pointing her wand into a window on her left, fired what looked like a stunner followed by an _incarcerous_ spell, causing one less window to be spitting jets of light.

Immediately afterward, she jumped in the window, and James swallowed, as he had never expected to see something like this, at least, not until he was a trained auror. Even then, he had expected to capture them after a quick duel, maybe involving a clever surprise attack, like the kinds he had once done on Snape, never anything like this, an impression added to when he saw that the jets of orange light coming from the black wall had focused in the building on his right, shattering pieces of the wall until it started to lean over, then fall, which would have crushed James into goo if it weren't for a fast _protego _spell on his part...

* * *

As Lily entered the warehouse at the side of the alley, she knew that, based on the number of jets of light coming out of it, there had been probably a good four or five enemies inside of it, so she wasn't surprised by the blistering barrage of red, orange and green jets of light which had been sent at her. Immediately, she had ducked behind a box of what appeared to be fertilizer, after firing a pair of stunners in the direction of the attackers.

Figuring that she could block at least a few spells with her shields, based on the fact that her opponents were actually calling out their spells as they cast them, rather than relying on non-verbal spells, she jumped out from her cover, casting _protego _at the same time. As soon as she had done so, a barrage of spells had slammed into the box she had been hiding behind, destroying it all but instantly. Immediately, they started firing a volley of spells at her, but this time she got to see where they were coming from and, before she hid behind another box, she _incendio_'ed the stack of crates one of her opponents had been hiding behind, causing it to burst into flame, then, when he ran out from behind it, she got him in the side with a _stupify_. 'One down...'

As the target collapsed, she smirked; while she was outnumbered significantly, her opponents were outmatched for, like the Marauders before Severus' little war, they had likely never fought in anything beyond a simple beatdown, and it was showing, as they stayed more or less stationary and made little to no use of group tactics. In contrast, she had been in many a fight where the order had been outnumbered by two-to-one or worse, and she had lived through all of them, by making use of her Auror training, the terrain, tactics and coordination.

Not giving her opponents a chance to plan out how to deal with her, she fired off a quick _depulso_ at some a box of very volatile potion ingrediants, sending it crashing over near where another of her enemies had been hiding, then _incendio_'ed it, causing a large explosion. As the enemies nearby scattered, she picked off another two of them with a pair of _stupify _spells, then blocked the return fire with a _protego_, before _incarcerous_'ing all of the targets she had stunned, which would prevent a simple_ enervate_ from returning them to the fight. 'Now to deal with the rest of them...'

To her surprise, it seemed that there had been a total of six combatants when she had jumped inside, as the last three, realizing that she would win easily in a guerilla battle, had jumped out with a yell and charged at her, firing _stupify, Avada Kedavra _and other spells in her direction. 'Its really too bad that they don't realize that they can't win, period...'

Making use of cover to keep her out of sight, she quickly managed to flank them, then she fired a spell of her own inventions, _'Conluceo!'_

Tightly shutting her eyes, she waited as the wide beam of extremely bright light blinded them all, then opened her eyes, before calmly _stupify_'ing the lot of them, then _Incarcerous_'ing them all, before dragging them all into a neat pile. Right as she was finished, Severus and Mary, flanked by what looked like half of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in Diagon Alley, came inside. They then all gaped as they saw all of the attackers bound and stunned. Smirking slightly, Lily then said, with a touch of humor, "So, how have you all been...?"

* * *

Mary shuddered as the four of them: herself, Severus, Lily and James, all awaited Bartemius Crouch, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, to arrive. They had all been invited for their parts in dealing with the men and women who had been attacking Remus, a pack of werewolves under the command of Fenrir Greyback, and had become heroes, not even overnight. Still, even after three hours, she was still focused almost completely on the people she had needed to kill...'I know that it was necessary, but...'

She shuddered again, remembering the woman she had first hit, and how her eyes had widened in surprise, right before the spell had caused her chest to explode, killing her instantly, while raining blood and gore upon Mary with the explosion. She then tried to pull herself together, reminding herself, '...No, I will have to get used to it. If my plans for our army, _Terranum,_ go as planned, then there might be a great many more that it will be necessary to kill. Especially if Voldemort tries what I think that he will be trying...'

Mary was no fool, and neither was Severus; for all of Dumbledore's faults, he was unlikely to go slaughtering enemies who were merely political rivals, as the Dark Lord seemed to be in many ways at the moment. Voldemort WOULD however care if HE planned to go on the attack, which would make a lot of sense, given the things that Severus had been hearing with his position in the Knighthood, which was as high as you could get while still at school and not a Death Eater. Based on that, and the fact that the anti-Muggleborn philosophy was all but a requirement for the Death Eaters, she had the suspicion that Voldemort only wanted the members of _Terranum _so that they would be away from Dumbledore's side.

Focusing on her plans for _Terranum_, Mary managed to push away her guilt and remorse for a bit. 'While I don't have a problem with weakening Dumbledore, I think that he might indeed be the lesser of two evils, however, there is a third option...' Unbeknownst to anyone, save for Severus, Mary had been preparing a plan of her own, a plan which, like any created by a 'good' Slytherin, ended with all enemies dead and her side with the victory. While Voldemort, through Lucius Malfoy, had wanted to merely draw away members from the Order of the Phoenix, Mary's plan was far more focused on the construction of an army, an army with the fighting level of anyone and willing to die as necessary if it would help destroy Dumbledore...or the Dark Lord...

'Both of them are fools, only looking at the people who are willing to fight for THEIR ideals. What Severus and I will be aiming at, is the people who are currently neutral, who dislike both Voldemort and Dumbledore's ideas. They make up more half of the school on their own, and probably the majority of the people outside it, and all they need is a voice and a purpose, and then they will mobilize on OUR behalf, in the name of _Terranum_. The problem is, after the Death Eaters find out about our little betrayal, I will need more support, and allies...'

Suddenly Bartemius Crouch walked into the room, causing Mary to remember how Crouch had become more and more focused on preventing the Dark Lord's ideals from infiltrating the Ministry, but didn't care much for Dumbledore's ideas either. Mary then smiled. 'Perfect...'

**Author's Notes:** Mary's plans have started to come together, and the construction of a third army has begun. I am sorry that I was unable to have the promised Lily/Severus scene this chapter, but it will be arriving the next chapter.

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, and keep reading. Just remember one thing, even the most careful of plans and the highest of walls usually have a chink in them...


	34. Mary's Indecision, Lily's Problem

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 34**

**Mary's Indecision, Lily's Problem**

_The evidence is sound, so why am I having doubts...?_

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Two Days Later Tuesday September 1st, 1975_**

'Hmm...'

Mary sighed again as she waited for Severus to return from his prefects' meeting. She was really quite happy for him, although she didn't get the nod for the position. Nonetheless, Dumbledore's reasoning was easily understandable: Severus was, quite simply, by far the least of 'evils'. Severus was a member of the Knights of Walpurgis, like the other Slytherin boys his year, but he had been very careful to help a great many of the students who had been attacked by them; based on Mary's count, he had managed to rescue an average of three students a month, no small number, from hexing and bullying by his fellow Knights. In addition, although he had been deeply involved in the 'war', he had done his best to minimize the collateral damage, and had even shown a fair amount of mercy.

In contrast, Mary knew that Dumbledore had pretty good reasons for not giving her the position, mainly because, when she asked in her letter to him, requesting a change in classes to make sure her 'wall' between Severus and Lily was flawless unless he wanted to go outside of it, he had replied that she had shown a remarkable lack of caring for collateral damage when she got in trouble, and seemed to enjoy putting her enemies in pain to a unhealthy extent. 'Still, he does owe me and Severus in my opinion; he REALLY owes us for not doing that investigation. Oh well, once _Terranum _is complete, it won't matter much...'

Speaking of _Terranum_, Mary was very pleased with her progress on that front; Crouch had agreed to her suggestion of allowing her to create a dueling/Auror preparation club, as it would do a great deal to help flagging Auror recruitment rates, and he had been quite impressed by her and Severus' creativity in inventing new spells. 'Hell, he even asked Severus and I if we would be willing to demonstrate the spells to some members of his office sometime this month or next! His assistance will be very helpful in the coming months, as it allows me to get around Dumbledore, and gives me official credibility too. Speaking of Severus, its hard to believe that he is so good at managing money, or maybe not considering his home life...'

Over the past several months, while she had been requesting monetary help from her family, Selene and Arcturus, making use of Severus' friendship with the two Slytherins, Severus had been scouring wizarding mail-order catalogs and magazines for the cheapest books on dueling theory and advanced combat spells. He then took those books, and, using one of the copiers from one of her dad's businesses, made enough copies of each chapter that they had about two-hundred pamphlets per chapter of the book. In the end, he managed to reduce the estimated cost for enough books for everyone from about 600 galleons, to the equivelent of 150 galleons, leaving her a great deal of spare cash for unexpected cash outlays, and her primary worry: a place where they could practice in.

Mary then stretched out lazily with a smile, alone in the compartment. She was glad for her popularity at this point, as the people who had been around her had been thrilled to leave her alone in return for an autograph or two. For some reason, she, and the rest of the quartet who had tried to protect Remus, had been considered heroes ever since they had set foot on the train, even James. 'What did James do that was so heroic anyway? I don't recall seeing him until after the battle was over, although Lily says that he was right behind her...Ugh, Lily...'

Mary grimaced as she looked out the window of the Hogwarts Express; back in July and early August, everything had seemed extremely simple: Lily had tried to harm someone Mary loved, showing how little she cared about her friendships when her precious Potter was on the line, and that meant that Mary was justified in every attempt to keep her as far away from Severus as possible, lest she try to kill him again. Now however...

'I can't say that I am ready to go back to trusting Lily unquestioningly, but maybe she is right, and it was an accident or something. She didn't indicate that she knew of Remus after all, so maybe...' Mary carefully considered the situation as she knew about it; while her actions over the Summer, trying to keep Severus from having any positive contact with Lily, had seemed to be warrented at the time, if Lily really WERE innocent, or even if there was only a reasonable chance at her being innocent, she owed it to Severus to let him know. '...Maybe I should let him know about my actions involving Lily's letters after all. If she might be innocent, then it should be up to Severus to decide how to deal with her, but if she isn't, and she is only trying to deceive us again. Darn it! This is really rough...'

Mary sighed, unsure about how to deal with the girl who had once been her best friend other than Severus, only knowing that she would have to deal with it VERY carefully indeed...

* * *

'ARRGH!'

Lily wanted to kick something as she continued her walk to the prefects' meeting; the past night had NOT been a good night for her. First of all, she had finally gotten a response to the letter that she had sent to Slughorn a week ago, asking for her and Severus to be paired together, so that the 'two best potioneers in his class' could dazzle him. The response had been quite simple and quite devastating: Mary had requested from Dumbledore that Severus and herself were to be put in Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff classes whenever Slytherin was to share classes with Gryffindor, and, conveniently, it didn't conflict with the two houses' scheduling for classes for once, something which hadn't occured in about fifteen years...

'Apparently even the scheduling for Hogwarts classes is out to get me... Mary is apparently really, really, REALLY determined to protect Severus from me, given that I am SURE that she knew about Severus and her's being scheduled to different classes than me when she made that deal. 'Leave Severus alone unless he wants to talk to you, or the school makes it necessary for the two of you to communicate, like classes and such', HA!'

She glared at the door to one of the compartments as she continued her musing, "On the bright side, at least I know that, whatever 'I' did, it must have been really, truly awful, as she and I had actually become much better friends than in the original time-line, so I doubt that she would have tried to cut me off like that for no good reason. That gives me one clue, and that dream, that dream's continuation gives me another clue...'

_Flashback August 31, 1975:_

_Once again, she saw Severus, and he quietly looked at her, then said faintly, _

_He only looked at her sadly, then said, "Are you willing to join the darkness? To do foul deeds for my sake? To join the Death Eaters should I ask__? To suffer for my sake if necessary?"_

_Dream-Lily then asked, confused, "What do you mean by that Sev? What do you mean...?"_

_"I mean that..."_

_End Flashback:_

'At least I have finally begun to understand part of what those symbols mean; they aren't necessarily literal , like I had thought, as Remus wasn't a wolf when he was trapped in those chains, but he clearly was counted as the wolf in chains, considering that the night after the incident in Diagon Alley, the symbol of a wolf in chains was greyed out...'

She then focused very carefully, as, based on what the angel had told her, these dreams were at least partially prophetic, but maybe it could be used in reverse, maybe she could figure out who or what the 'lying star' was based on what happened. 'OK, considering that whatever happened was truly, TRULY despicable based on Severus and Mary's actions, it was either the Knights, because they dislike our friendship, or the Marauders, for revenge. Now, what could have occured that would make Severus and Mary want to find me so badly that they would leave Hogwarts after curfew...? Wait, assuming that they WEREN'T following me, how did they know where James and I were in the first place?'

Lily was still thinking to herself about this, when she opened the door to the prefects' meeting and saw a sight that brightened her day up completely: Severus standing there, wearing a prefect's badge...

'THANK YOU MERLIN...!'

* * *

"OK, so Snape and Mary went to help Remus and, what did they get out of it exactly?"

"Prongs, they were probably just trying to get us vulnerable, like they did before the 'war', so that they could hammer us with our guards down."

"Black, this is one of the reasons that I now am glad that we broke up; you are being completely idiotic, and reaching very, VERY much in this case. I mean, if it weren't for Severus, Remus would have actually gone through on the transfer; do you really think that he would have done that to 'hammer us with our guards down'? Do you?"

"Whatever!"

While Remus was with the rest of the prefects, James, Sirius, Peter and Sabrina were all in their shared compartment, discussing the events in Diagon Alley over the weekend, and Sirius was clearly far from happy at the turn of the conversation; he clearly had an axe to grind with Severus for some reason... 'He's probably still smarting over how Severus humiliated him, or was the reason for his humiliations, multiple times...'

James then said, with a tone that he was suggesting something he disliked greatly, "Padfoot, Wormtail, I was thinking... I mean, even though he hurt us, and Lily, a lot, he did risk his life to protect Moony, when he could have sat there and do nothing, and he helped us persuade him that he was being an idiot what with his trying to transfer... Well, what do you guys think about ending the rivalry, at least for now? I mean, we REALLY owe him..."

Peter and Sirius looked at each other, then shook their heads defiantly, with Peter saying, "I'm with Padfoot on this one, Prongs; I don't trust Severus as far as I can throw him, which is like two inches based on his height. I mean, he KILLED those people, using Dark Magic! That's one of the reasons we always went after him isn't it? He probably just tried to save Remus because it was an excuse for him to practice killing people!"

"Correction Peter, you AND Sirius are reaching, and being completely idiotic; if it weren't for him, Remus would have been stuck in a pack with Fenrir Greyback and his cronies! Are you saying that you would have preferred Severus to be staying out of it!? ARE YOU!?"

As Sirius and Peter continued to look mutinous, Sabrina decided to leave the rest of the situation to James, as she was completely exasperated with them, so she said, "Sorry James, but you're on your own with these morons; I am gonna get back to Alexandra and Celeste's compartment. I mean, this WAS Remus' spot before I arrived..."

James looked like he would protest him a moment, but Sabrina gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then said, giggling, "Have fun, beloved boyfriend!"

As he went red a little, Sabrina exited the compartment, rolling her eyes at the continued wave of arguements that Sirius and Peter were bringing up...

* * *

'Sometimes, I hate my life...'

Severus was in a state of nervous panic, now that the prefects' meeting was over, and he was patrolling, and it was all because of the red-headed girl smiling at his side. He was still trying to figure out how to deal with her, which was the main reason that he agreed to Mary's plan, because he really didn't know HOW to deal with Lily, as he wasn't sure what exactly was going on. 'How the hell am I supposed to deal with a girl, ESPECIALLY Lily, when I don't know if she is really my friend or just wants to bloody KILL me!?'

What made matters worse was the fact that Dumbledore, for reasons only known to the old blighter, had come upon a 'bright' idea to support 'inter-house cooperation' this term: having each of the fifth-year prefects, rather than working with the other prefects of their house, work with only members of the opposite gender and house affiliation. In other words, Gryffindors would be working with Slytherins and Hufflepuffs would be working with Ravenclaws, meaning that Severus would be forced to work the entire term with the girl who may or may not have tried to murder him.

The worst part of all of these was that she was acting rather...strange, and Severus had no clue how to handle Lily when she was acting in this way; after not even feeling any remorse at all for two months, as far as the letters Mary had related had said, Lily had apologized profusely. Although she claimed not to know what she had done, she had said that she was really, truly sorry for whatever she must have done. If it hadn't been for all of the evidence against her, Severus knew that he would have accepted her apology almost instantly, and tried to repair their friendship as quickly as possible, but there was a ton of evidence...

'The best it could possibly be was an accident, and her simply not knowing about Remus, considering that it was her bloody letter, from her bloody owl, and she was bloody there as she bloody said in said letter, although twenty minutes after the fact... If she did know about Remus though, then it was a murder attempt, no if's and's or but's. She told me to be there then, the same night that Remus transformed, after all, and there is no way that POTTER would have tried to take her to the Shrieking Shack on purpose had he known that it was the night of Remus' transformation...' As his mind went over this, Lily and him had been having a conversation, and he tried to act as if he wasn't completely unsure how to act,

"So Sev, how was your Summer? Did anything fun happen?"

"Uh, it went..." 'I was going out of my mind, trying to figure out how and why what happened happened.' "...OK."

She then said, in a strange tone of voice, "So Severus...Um...James and I broke up..."

Cautiously, as if he was dealing with a cursed object, Severus said, happy for some reason at the thought of Lily leaving James, in spite of shat she had done to him, "That sounds...sad?"

Lily looked at him with more than a little worry on her face, then she said, "Not really, the two of us just grew apart; it was over long ago, but I didn't realize it until the end of term..." She bit her lip, then said quietly, "Um Severus...I know that whatever I did or seem to have done must have been really, truly awful, but, like I said in all of my letters, I am really, very sorry about it, and I hope that you will forgive me..."

Severus was about to say something, but he was distracted by the sight of Justin Avery laughing as he threw stinging hexes at this one girl, a fourth-year Ravenclaw if he recalled correctly. He quickly said, preparing to deal with his first bit of punishing poor behavior for the year, "Lily, let's talk about this later, OK?"

Biting her lip, Lily nodded. Severus then said, almost lazily, "Justin, would you mind leaving her alone. I'm not in the mood to give detentions before we even arrive at school, but if you push me..."

Justin glared over at him, then said coldly, "Whatever, Snape. I've had enough out of you last year, so, if you still want to be friends, you had better quit bugging me!"

Severus was at first surprised at Justin's response, but he could understand it, as, after the 'war', Justin had gotten barely any of the credit for the victory, and having Severus rescuing a lot of the Muggleborn girls in the school from his 'fun' had really started to get on his nerves. 'Still, I needed the credit for the victory, so that I could keep Mary safe, and he was never really as close to me as Arcturus was...'

Meanwhile, Lily said, as cold as Justin, "I do hope that you enjoy two days in detention, Avery..."

Justin was about to round on Lily, but Severus gave him a glare and allowed his right hand to drift, almost lazily, to the pocket where he had been keeping his wand, so he left quickly, with only a backwards glare. Unfortunately, this meant that the girl found the need to thank him, and he had really wanted to talk to Lily some more...

* * *

As Lily and Severus returned to his compartment, Celeste Greengrass, a Ravenclaw fourth-year, in tow, Lily had begun to realize that she had one more problem than she had anticipated, something which she hadn't considered, but in hindsight was so obvious that it was rather silly... 'How the heck am I supposed to win him over!? I don't have the slightest clue how to flirt with or woo a guy!'

The problem that Lily had was quite simple: although she had managed to win James' heart easily in the original time-line, and could have easily done so in this one, she actually had no clue how to really romance guys, or convey that she was interested in them, as Severus had never really been the flirty type, part of the reason she hadn't figured out he loved her until he told her, in spite of the fact that it was just short of blindingly obvious, and James...For James, he was so obvious about being interested in someone, that all she really had had to do was not say 'no' one time, and he would take care of the romancing part on his own easily. As such, she had never really had to actually try to win over a guy, which made the battle over Severus that she expected to have with Mary...more than a little difficult, to say the least.

'If I had done this back in March, April or May, then I probably would have just had to tell him that I wanted to try dating him, but NOOOO...I had to give Mary months to prepare herself, and she is his bloody girlfriend to boot! AND I'll bet that the 'flirting game' is right up her alley as well, as she managed to get him to want to date her as well...' Lily kept going in this vein, berating herself a great deal, then finally she came to a conclusion...

'OK, I am sure that there is something in the Hogwarts library that will help...What I wouldn't do to have spent time listening to 'pointless gossip and girl-talk' more after I came to this time-line...But NOOOOO...I was too busy studying new spells for fighting Voldemort with Severus and Mary, or dating James, to ever pay attention to those topics.'

As she ranted to herself about her own stupidity, she watched Celeste flirting with Severus, clearly much to Mary and her's dislike, as she was rather...well-proportioned, to say the least. Celeste Greengrass had long blond hair, clear blue eyes, skin that was just a shade above being too pale, and, quite frankly, a set of some of the nicest breasts that Lily had ever seen on a girl who couldn't be more than fourteen. In addition, she had a very nice set of hips and a slender waist; if it weren't for the fact that she was so bubbleheaded and ditzy, Lily might have been worried that she and Mary had even more competition, but Severus, in his own words, had always been more interested in a girl who was clever and able to understand him than a girl who was stacked. 'Of course, he said that in the original time-line, before the incident, so he might have been biased...'

Still, Lily had no real reason to fear Celeste Greengrass, although the fact that Mary was doing nothing to 'protect her territory' was a mystery on its own, for Lily had a far larger problem. It was one that wouldn't go away as quickly as the problem of her lack of flirting skills, or even busty fourth-years: the look in Severus' eyes whenever he saw her. Whenever she looked into his eyes she saw a stark, unreasoning terror, like that one might feel being in the same room as a basilisk. 'Either I figure out the reason for his fear, and get him to forgive me before its too late, or I am sunk...'

**Author's Note:** Ironic eh? Although Lily might have been good at flirting in canon, I somehow doubt it, considering that it seems like it is a skill she wouldn't have ever needed to learn, as her biggest romantic problem was having to deal with James, and you don't need flirting skills to deal with a boy who only needs the slightest encouragement to date you in order to sweep you off your feet.

It also explains why she had no idea of how Severus felt about her (I will stand by that because, if she knew, then the answer to her question of how she was any different from the rest of the Muggleborns that she asked him outside of Gryffindor Tower would have been just past "DUH!", and just short of blindingly obvious).

I am sure that I have given enough clues now for any enterprising readers to figure out what happened way back at the end of term, so take your best shot=).

_"Lily, I am glad that you have come, but you cannot follow me..."_

_The Dream-Lily then said, passionately, "No Sev! I have to follow you! I want to, no, I HAVE to save you and protect you! Come back with me into the light!"_

_'Severus' then said sadly, "I am afraid that you cannot save me for the Light, for the Light itself has rejected me, and has made me its enemy. It has sought to destroy me, so I only wish to return the favor, in order to protect myself and those I love. Besides, you cannot follow me, for you are too pure..."_

_'Lily' then said, "TOO pure? What do you mean by 'Too Pure'?"_

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**


	35. Those Who Hide In Shadows

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 35**

**Those Who Hide In Shadows**

_I dislike her because she is a Muggleborn. I hate her for what she did to my friend..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_One Week Later Tuesday September 8th, 1975_**

Mary Macdonald grinded her teeth as she listening to three of the Hufflepuffs gossiping while she sat next to Severus in the Great Hall; it may have been necessary, and he may have been unready to continue their relationship at this point, but...

"Did you hear? Macdonald and Severus broke up?"

"I heard it was because she was cheating on him..."

"Really? I heard it was because she was a little too frigid if you know what I mean..."

"Does it really matter girls? He's up for grabs now, and Macdonald is no longer a threat!"

...She still HATED hearing it be disected by those bloody Hufflepuffs, and hear them planning about how they were going to sink their claws into HER Severus. She wouldn't mind losing to Lily, not too much, not if Lily were innocent and had beaten her fair and square that is, but there was absolutely NO WAY that she was losing to some tramps who just wanted him because he was a 'hero' now. 'They don't know the hard decisions he made to gain that title, and none of them would have had the fortitude or courage to follow his path! At least Lily, even if she is a stupid peacemaker and seems to hate fighting, had no problem risking her life when it came down to it. Those twits would have run away in a heartbeat!'

Still, the endless gossip about her and Severus' break-up did have its advantages; although Mary wasn't quite as popular as Severus, what with her actions while still in Gryffindor, she knew that there were a great many boys who certainly wouldn't mind joining _Terranum _if it meant the chance to get closer to her. Although she had no interest in them, save for as future allys, she would play the role of the poor girl who just got her heart broken to the hilt if that was what it took to build _Terranum _faster. 'After all, while THOSE girls aren't a major threat, Lily is, assuming that she can prove her innocence to him. I have to build this army as quickly as possible so that I don't lose that much ground...'

"Ooh, I think she's glaring at us! Do you think that Macdonald heard us?"

Mary was starting to get very annoyed at their gossiping about her and Severus, and was considering a stinging hex or two,when she felt Severus put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to smile as she turned to him, and he said casually, smirking, "You know, you could just tell them that there is no way I would date anyone who wasn't as strong as you or Lily; either they would join _Terranum_, or they would have to leave me alone."

Mary chuckled slightly, allowing her jealousy to slip away because of the banter she and Severus were sharing, which these girls would probably never get the chance to experience, then she replied jokingly, "So, if they actually became good duelists, you would date them? Wow..."

Severus let out a short laugh at this, then whispered conspiratorially, "If they actually believe that I was shallow enough to date someone solely based on their skill with a wand, then they would be far too...dunderheaded to be of any interest to me whatsoever..."

Seeing the girls frown slightly, Mary then said loudly, laying it on extra-thick, as those particular Hufflepuffs were famous in Slytherin for being both world-class gossips, and world-class chumps, "Its too bad that most girls probably couldn't defend themselves against rabid chipmunks. Otherwise, I suppose they might be a bit interesting to you as girlfriends..."

Without even a pause, Severus replied, just loudly enough for the Hufflepuffs to hear them easily, "Indeed, I certainly couldn't date a girl who couldn't hold her own, although I suppose that a dueling club could help them catch up..." Selene Malfoy and Arcturus Mulciber, who were sitting at their sides, both snorted a moment at just how obvious they were being, but they were clearly too busy with talking, among other things, to even care much.

As Mary 'just so happened' to drop one of the fliers that she and Severus had made onto the floor, mentioning the first meeting for _Terranum_ that would take place next Saturday, she smirked, especially when one of the Hufflepuff girls moved over to pick it up. 'That's three down, at least for now; I don't care why they want in, so long as they join us...' Mary estimated that she would need well in excess of fifty to start out with, so that, after the fat was trimmed down, they would still have a fairly large group. As such, given the terms of Lucius' letter, she had a lot of work to do, even ignoring what she was aiming for in the future, but Mary wasn't the type of person to give up until she succeeded, and with Severus' help, she felt that there was nothing that she couldn't do.

'And, once this ball gets rolling, there will be no power on heaven or earth that can stop us either. We shall craft a world without false Lights, where even the Dark ones can live in the sun. I have seen the horrors that have been done in the name of the Light, and it sickens me; if Dumbledore and his hypocrisy are an example of the Light, then Severus and I shall make being on the side of the Darkness something to be proud of, rather than something to feel shame for...' Mary was confident that she and Severus were doing the right thing, even if they had to be a tad ruthless, as Dumbledore, with his actions, had in their minds put him beyond redemption, or salvation.

The only problem that Mary felt that she really had was figuring out whether or how to tell Severus that she mislead him about Lily's letters on purpose, and it was causing her serious guilt-indigestion...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Thursday September 10th, 1975_**

Lily frowned to herself slightly; ever since she had gotten back to Hogwarts, she had been waiting for this day, for the prefects who were partnered would only meet once each week to set up patrol routes, and, thanks to her deal with Mary, going up to talk to him was right out. As she waited in the empty classroom that Severus had agreed to meet her in, she pondered what had been happening to her the last few days; ever since term had began, she had been attacked by the Knights, almost non-stop.

'Note to self, if I ever see 'my' James again, hex him until he screams; pranking is really, REALLY annoying when you are the constant target of it. Frankly, I'm appalled that, in the previous time-line, I forgave him of it so easily. I mean, Sev did laugh when some of my friends got hexed by the Knights, and that WAS awful, but at least he never joined in...'

Until that term, she had never been the target of any of the pranks, from either the Marauders, nor the Knights, which meant that, while she had always hated it when she watched Severus get bullied by the Marauders, she had never had the chance to understand exactly how humiliating it was to him. 'I'll bet that Sev was trying to protect me in the other time-line as well, so the Knights never really went after me; if I ever encounter the original Severus again, I will have to thank him, profusely...'

Unfortunately for Lily, it appeared that the Knights were making up for lost time; while she could EASILY handle anything that they could throw at her directly, they never gave her a chance to make it a direct confrontation. Instead of direct hexing attempts, like Mulciber had tried to do to Mary in the past, they did simple yet effective tricks that all the Auror training in the world wouldn't help her against. For example, in potions class last Wednesday, while she had been asking the professor about a different idea for the Combustion Concoction she had been making, one of the Slytherins had dumped about five different ingrediants into her potion, causing it to turn into a greenish paste rather than the orange fluid that she had been making, causing her to fail to complete the day's assignment for the first time ever.

'And then there was that time in the bathroom; if I ever find the girls that did that, I'll _depulso _them into the nearest wall...' While Lily had been using the loo in-between classes on Friday, some girl or girls had taken the opportunity to dump a few bottles of ink into her bag, ruining her Transfiguration essay. While in both cases she had been given the opportunity to complete the assignment later, it was rapidly growing to be very frustrating to have to do just about everything twice, just to get one thing to turn in. '...Of course, that is the least of my worries; I have to find out what Sev is angry at me for, stop the utter annihilation of this world, and get Severus to fall in love with me... At least O.W.L.s should be a breeze...'

She was broken out of her musings by the much-anticipated voice of Severus saying "Lily?"; startled, she whirled around, only to see Severus standing there, a blank look upon his face, save for his eyes, which he hid in with his hair, although Lily thought she could see the corners of his lips turning up ever so slightly. Mildly perturbed at how he had startled her like that, she said, "Well then, let's work on our schedule, Sev..." Noticing him appear rather uncomfortable at her calling him by his nickname, she added the extra two syllables with a mental sigh, "...erus. I was thinking that you might patrol the upper floors, the fourth through seventh floors, while I take the first through third floors, then focus on the dungeon."

Severus was apparently thinking through that carefully, then said calmly, "That sounds like it would be OK, but I might suggest that, to prevent weaknesses in our 'net', we both take the third and fourth floor. We patrol Monday 'nights', and Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, correct?"

Lily felt a trifle uneasy at the way he was talking, but she nodded and Severus continued with a frank question, "How shall we handle doling out punishments? Will each of us assign our own? Or will we meet together to discuss them?"

Lily thought it over carefully, probably more than the question was worth, as, while he did seem more...determined about actually doing his job for real than Remus, there was something about the way that Severus was acting that was setting off alarm bells in her subconscious, as if something very strange between the two of them was taking place, and she didn't like it one bit. Finally, figuring that this would be an excellent reason to spend more time together, Lily said, "We will meet to discuss punishments, as I doubt that you could be...level-headed with the Marauders, or me with the Knights, plus it might be a good excuse for the two of us to hang out some more..."

As she said the last part, she tried flipping her hair like one of the books she had been readed suggested; hoping that her hair-flip maneuver, which she had carefully practiced for about three hours on Sunday, worked, she watched him for his response, and hopefully any effects from her new flirting technique, that she hoped would work. 'Come on, I didn't look through 'A Well-Mannered Witch's Guide to Flirting Techniques of the Nineteen-Sixties' for nothing...Please work Hair-flip version five!'

As Severus looked back at her, nodding ever so slightly, Lily finally figured out what had been bothering her, and it made her completely forget anything about flirting, even page fifty-six of the guide, which she had been basing version five on. It made her heart shatter, and pain ooze through her veins as his eyes became visible finally. 'Oh, Sev. What did I do to make you look like this...?'

The look of fear that she had seen on the train was still there, undiminished, and Severus had only been trying to hide it from view; it made her think of an abused puppy, afraid of any human contact, and made her want to cry, as she was the reason for this look. She then said, fighting a sob in her throat, "Severus, why are you so afraid of me? What did I do that made you hide act like this...?

Severus looked at her, eyes only revealing fear and pain, then said softly, in a hurt tone, "If I could tell you what you did, I would, honestly I would. Just know that it really hurt me, Lily, what you tried to do, even if what happened wasn't what you intended..."

As he started to walk away, Lily asked him, "Sev, if I can guess what happened, could you tell me whether or not I am correct?"

Severus frowned for a moment, then said "Yes, but that's all.", before walking away, probably back to his common room, leaving Lily with much to consider...

* * *

Fenrir Greyback backed slowly away from the man, if you could call him a man, for he was so much greater than a mere man, that stood before him: Lord Voldemort. Clearly terrified, he tried to babble his apologies, much to Voldemort's amusement.

"I-I can explain! It was just supposed to be the one boy! I thought that it would be eas-"

Voldemort looked at the pathetic human being before him and snorted. 'This is the 'man' that terrifies much of the Magical world? Fenrir Greyback? Thief of the lives of children? How truly...pathetic.' Lazily, he pulled out his wand and _crucio_'ed him, as much for his own enjoyment as otherwise. As Greyback howled in pain, much like the wolf he turned into, Voldemort's amusement grew.

As the spell ended, Voldemort waited for Greyback to stand up again, babbling his apologies again, clearly knowing that he was in mortal peril from Voldemort's wand "Please my lord! I-I am loyal to you! Valuable too! I can make-"

Voldemort then said, coldly, "Enough of your pathetic snivelling; allow Lord Voldemort to consider how you can be of service to him."

Greyback stopped talking, and the light of hope in his eyes was clearly visible. After a few moments, Voldemort then said, almost to himself, "Yes, yes...That will do nicely." He then turned to Greyback and said, "I have decided how you may be of use to Lord Voldemort, if you should be willing..."

Greyback almost ripped his own head off, nodding so rapidly in eagerness, saying, "Yes my lord! Anything! Absolutely anything you want!"

Voldemort then said coolly, "Very well then, _Avada Kedavra!"_

He smiled, just a little bit, at the look of surprise in Greyback's dead eyes, then said, "Your death will be of great use to me indeed, Fenrir..." Voldemort then chuckled, amused at the fact that Greyback could have even dreamed that his life would have been spared, when, in death, he would be so much more valuable, as it would make Voldemort a hero in the eyes of many, considering that he had removed a great threat to the wizarding world from this world...

* * *

**_Three Days Later Sunday September 13th, 1975_**

'Bloody hell! Why hasn't that silly girl given up already!? I mean, he called her a Mudblood for Merlin's sake, and she has no REAL evidence that he had any good reason for it!'

Sirius Black was starting to get very worried indeed, for his plan apparently had a flaw which he hadn't anticipated, as part of the reason that he had pulled his little prank at the end of term was to give Lily the whole Summer to think things over and realize that she was better off without Snivellus, and the fact that he had called her Mudblood should have made it even more certain. 'Instead of figuring things off, Lily's gone barking mad! I mean, she broke up with James before term started, ruining all of my hard work to keep the two of them together, and now she looks like she is going on a bloody manhunt!'

Almost from the moment that, almost two weeks ago, they had all arrived in Hogwarts for the new term, Lily had been thoroughly picking the brains of every single person in Gryffindor from second year on up for what they recalled about what happened back on June 30th. Even spending nearly half an hour on each person, Lily was already finishing up with the fifth-year girls, with Sabrina Percival. 'Ugh, that's another girl that I will never understand! I mean, I made one mistake, and she has decided that I am pond-scum! What did I do to deserve this...? I was only trying to help everyone...'

Meanwhile, Lily had started questioning Sabrina, "...What happened after I left?"

"Hmm, honestly? I talked with Sirius, who was trying to persuade me to back off on James, by saying that you and him were 'meant to be together'. When I mentioned how you had apparently started falling for Severus, he laughed and said that you would figure out the 'truth about how he was trying to use you' soon enough." Lily seemed to be thinking, but then Sabrina seemed to recall something else, saying,

"By the way, Lily; when I was with James and co. in Diagon Alley a couple of weeks ago, Remus said to Severus that he had been planning to transfer because of something that had happened at the end of term, and how he didn't want the incident to repeat itself, but Severus said that it wasn't his fault, only that of 'the mastermind'. Do you think that that might have something to do with it?"

At this, Lily's eyes seemed to gleam for a moment, and then she muttered, before rushing up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, "It just might..."

Sirius wanted to curse James' girlfriend right then and there, love or not, as she had just probably just finished ruining all of his plans to protect them all from the likes of Snivellus. 'Oh hell, this is so bad, so very bad...'

* * *

As Lily laid back in her bed, pretending to be sleeping, she carefully considered the information that she had just obtained; between what Sabrina had told her and the fact that, according to at least two of the girls interviewed, it had been a beautiful full moon that night, she had obtained a fairly large chunk of the puzzle. She knew the 'what', the 'where', and the 'when' of this little caper. 'OK, so Severus and Mary were in the Shrieking Shack on June 30th, the night of the full moon, where Remus attacked them in werewolf form, almost certainly without him knowing what had been planned. It would explain why their clothes were all messed up, as they had just gotten through a fight with a werewolf, but that doesn't explain why they immediately blamed me, nor why they were there in the first place...'

Therein laid the problem, Lily had difficulty figuring out why Severus would ever want to return to the Shrieking Shack, let alone on the night of the full moon. It just didn't make sense how he would be remotely interested in going there; maybe if he had followed Mary perhaps, but Mary had said that she was the one doing the following. 'Ugh, this part is giving me a headache... I just don't have the information necessary to figure out why those two would have been so stupid, although the part where they immediately thought I was responsible might have been a clue, so maybe I could use that...'

Nonetheless, Lily decided to move to topics she was more sure about; while the motives of the victims were hard to determine, it was fairly easy to guess who might have a motive to use Remus to attack Severus, and the fact that they knew that Remus was a werewolf said alot. 'Given that Severus never told his Slytherin buddies about Remus being a werewolf, highly unlikely because he never told me, that means that the list of people who knew of Remus' condition and where he is kept during the full moon are limited to: me, the Marauders, the teachers, and the headmaster, and of course, Severus. Of those, I had no intention of using Remus, and I doubt that the teachers or headmaster did either, and Severus would have never tried to use Remus like that unless he was suicidal. That means it must be one of the Marauders who is responsible...'

Lily then thought to herself, 'OK, of the Marauders, I doubt that Remus would have never gotten involved in a prank like that, especially after the first incident, which means that it was either James, Sirius, or Peter...' After a bit of consideration of the personalities of each of the Marauders, Lily decided, 'No, no. it probably wasn't Peter, as he was always too much of a follower to actually pull off his own pranks, which means that either James was being more clever than I thought, no surprise considering he hid his bullying of Severus for an entire year while we were dating, or Sirius did something either before or after he was stuck in detention...'

Lily decided to cut off her pondering for the moment, as she was getting really sleepy, and she doubted that her mind would be working as well as it should. Instead, she moved to a topic that was sadder, yet happier, Severus; she had been paying attention over the past few weeks just how much she had clearly meant to Severus, and it galled her how blind she had clearly been. She had been so busy thinking about James, first how much he annoyed her with his pranks, then how much he fascinated her with his wit, and eventually how much she loved him for his care for others, that she hadn't seen what Severus had been doing for her while hiding in the shadows as he was.

While she hadn't been looking, he had grown up from the small boy she had played with in the playground, laughing with her, dressed in secondhand clothing, to a man who had been terrified to reveal his feelings to her, yet loved her more than she could ever have known, had it not been shown to her. He would never be incredily handsome, and, with his constant work on potions, it was unlikely that he would ever get rid of his greasy hair completely, as the fumes seemed to react with his hair somehow. However, in many ways, his greasy hair was like a badge of honor in her eyes now. To her, his greasy hair symbolized how, whatever the personal costs to himself, he would keep going to the end, sacrificing himself for the things and people he loved. 'James gave up his life for me, but Severus gave up everything he had worked for...'

In the midst of Lily's musings about her best friend who, while she had been watching him in this time-line, had turned into the man she loved, she slipped into slumber, dreaming a dream that was unusual, yet seemed appropriate in so many ways. In this dream, it showed her growing as a girl from the age of seven, with a string of lilies in her hair, with her shadow, in the shape of a boy, behind her. As she turned eleven, she saw a blinding light moving slowly away from her, calling out her name in James' voice; she looked towards this light, then back at the shadow, not noticing how it kept away other shadows, who seemed to be trying to harm her.

Confused, at the age of fifteen, she seemed to be unsure whether to follow the light, or stay behind with the shadow, until the night came on, and she could no longer see the shadow, but the light was still there, so she followed it, until she had, in the process of following it, fallen off a cliff. In her last moments, dawn had broken again, and she saw that, even though she had thought it had left her, her ever-faithful shadow had been following her still, trying to offer her its hand as she fell down, down, down...

She then seemed to return to the same situation as before, but this time she immediately started to follow the light. However, when she looked back over her shoulder, she saw her still-faithful shadow trying to keep her safe. Over time, she slowed down, watching her shadow, and the light drew away from her more and more, until it was barely even a dot on the horizon, until it had left her without her noticing or caring, and night had fallen again, but this time she whispered into the darkness, "Little Shadow, will you keep me safe?"

She still couldn't see it, but she heard its voice, identical to hers, say, "Flower Girl, I will always protect you, as much as I know how, but I can no longer protect you unless you protect me too..."

Laying on the ground, in the midst of the pitch-black night, the girl waited for the dawn, whispering, "This time, I will protect you as you always protected me...

About to fall into a deeper sleep, she then remembered Severus' words from earlier: _"If I could tell you what you did, I would, honestly I would..."_

Lily then woke up with a start, realizing something that she had missed earlier, and shouted, "Wait a minute! Both he and Mary didn't say that they WOULDN'T tell me, but rather they COULDN'T tell me! And given the fact that the Marauders were responsible, that means...!"

She realized that she was probably waking up her roommates, so she stopped shouting, but she still whispered to herself gleefully, feeling that she had finally made a breakthrough, "Dumbledore..."

**_

* * *

_**

**_The Next Day Monday September 14th, 1975_**

Severus swallowed as he took his place as an officer of the Knights of Walpurgis, but he felt that it was now time to put one of his plans into action; considering that he was planning on leaving within a few months, he hoped that he could minimize the personal political fallout from what he was planning...

Severus then said, clearly and strongly, "As the first order of business for the year, I, Severus Tobias Snape, propose that we cease all attacks on Muggleborns, save for those in rival power groups..."

**Author's Notes:** Ooh! Multiple mega-cliffies have arrived, and Lily has managed to achieve her first real breakthrough in the case, while Severus and Mary begin their own power-plays, in order to create _Terranum_. Mary debates about whether to tell Severus about how she mislead him, and Sirius...Sirius still fails to understand any friendship that involves a Slytherin, let alone love...

I am considering revising the previous chapters, to explain better and read smoother. If I do, it might be a couple weeks until I post a new chapter, but the fanfic as a whole should be improved significantly.


	36. Seeding Hatred, Restoring Friendship

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 36**

**Seeding Hatred, Restoring Friendship**

_Dumbledore's 'power of love' will be no match for our hatred..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Monday September 14th, 1975_**

_"As the first order of business for the year, I, Severus Tobias Snape, propose that we cease all attacks on Muggleborns, save for those in rival power groups, henceforth."_

As everyone else gasped, turning their heads to look at Severus in shock, Arcturus quickly said, "I, Arcturus Mulciber second his proposal."

Arcturus had to hide a smirk as he glanced over in Severus' direction; with the graduation of Macnair, there were, in addition to Severus and himself, only two other officers, Darius Yaxley, and Alecto Carrow, and Yaxley was serving detention that night, for hexing Alexandra Gregory until she had resembled a human-shaped mass of year-old porridge. 'In other words...'

Alecto Carrow, shocked, said, rather stupidly, "Uh, I oppose this proposal..."

Arcturus then said calmly, "With the absence of Darius Yaxley, Severus Snape's proposal is passed with a two-one majority. As it cannot be repealed by any means until a majority of officers agrees, it will stand until at least the next meeting. As such, unless any of you have a list of targets other than Muggleborns..." He paused for a moment, then said calmly, "...This meeting is adjourned. Knights! On our honor!"

As the rest of them were still rather stunned, the usual "WE SHALL REDEEM OUR TAINTED WORLD!" fell a little flat. Soon though, the murmers and talking started, and Arcturus and Severus left before they could get out of control and start shouting at them. As they did so, Severus gave a tight smile over to Arcturus, saying, "Thanks, Arcturus. I owe you one..."

Shrugging, Arcturus said with a smirk, "Don't worry, I can wait for a little bit while Mary gets her stuff set up; after all, you guys are doing this on behalf of the Dark Lord, so it would behoove me not to assist in any way that I can...Besides, we are friends after all, and I owe you some help getting back to your girlfriend, even if I can't say I care for her blood status..."

Severus looked a little annoyed at him for the last remark, but said, "Nonetheless, thank you. I assume that you plan on reversing your position once Mary gets the ball moving and I 'clear out my desk' and join her group, right?"

Arcturus nodded, then excused himself, for he had plans of his own to make; while he had been honest in what he had told Severus about his reasons, he had, as any good Slytherin would, an ulterior motive to his official reasons. He had carefully thought it over when he and Severus had been working on the wording and realized that, with no other Muggleborn targets officially allowed, everyone would happily jump at the chance to attack the one Muggleborn in a rival power-group. 'After all, as she has dated James Potter, Lily is technically part of the Marauders, and between what the Marauders have done and what Lily has done, I'll bet that half of Slytherin will be aiming to stick her head on the end of a spear...'

Arcturus then smiled, with a touch of glee, at how his plans were coming together; with almost all of the Knights gunning for her, Lily would be in for one hell of a rough time, plus, he had his own movements to prepare. He knew that, sooner or later, the opportunity would come when Lily Evans was vulnerable, and when that moment came, Arcturus knew that he would be ready to capitalize on it. Severus had stopped him last year before he could REALLY start working Mary over, but he planned to give himself hours to work on Lily Evans. She had hurt Arcturus' friend, so she would pay with a scream for every ounce of pain that Severus had suffered through.

'When I'm through with her, I'll bet that she won't be able to leave the Hospital wing for weeks! She deserves it if Severus gave up on her; he is nothing like Potter after all, so whatever she did it must have been truly awful, and truly deserving of all the pain I can inflict...' Licking his lips with anticipation, Arcturus then decided to go and surprise his girlfriend with a nice snog session, as nothing turned him on more than thoughts of inflicting pain on the deserving...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Wednesday September 16th, 1975_**

As Severus patrolled the seventh floor, he allowed himself a small grin at how things had been going for him, Mary and their plans; to his modest surprise, being in classes with only her, other Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had been quite a blessing. While he was still unsure about how to deal with Lily, it was comforting to know that he could avoid her as much as he needed, as Mary had said; plus, there was the fact that, with no Gryffindors in his classes, that meant no Marauders.

Although Potter seemed to have other things on his mind, such as boasting about how he helped Severus, Mary and Lily deal with fifteen werewolf thugs while protecting his friend, and seemed to have, more or less, buried the hatchet, Sirius and Peter were still on the warpath. 'While I can easily handle those toerags without their precious leader, it is certainly much more relaxing not to have to do so. Although, now that I am a prefect, I suppose that our confrontations will be far more...enjoyable...'

Ever since he had gotten his status as prefect, one thing that Severus had been considering was the perfect punishments for each of the Marauders, if he could get his hands on them, which shouldn't be too hard, even with Potter's invisibility cloak, as he still had the monocles that could detect the cloak that he had made for his and Mary's little prank last December. 'Let's see...Potter has probably never worked a day in his life, so I'd assign him duties cleaning the potions classroom, without the use of magic, Black hates Slytherins and 'Dark wizards' more than anything, so I can assign him to clean all of the Slytherin house trophies, again without the use of magic, and Pettigrew is a cowardly rat, so I should probably assign him to helping Hagrid deal with his beasts and mongrels...

Severus grinned maliciously at the thought of what the toerags would be suffering through. 'Yes, being a prefect will be quite enjoyable indeed. I wonder if it would be feasible to watch them suffer one or two times... Watching Pettigrew squeak like the cowardly rodent he is will certainly be quite enjoyable...'

As he continued his patrolling, he heard the sounds of a scuffle occuring down one of the nearby passages; frowning, he quickly went into that direction, only to see a sight that he recalled to some extent from the Hogwarts Express, although far worse in this case, making Severus shudder. It was Justin Avery and Celeste Greengrass; Avery had Celeste backed up against a nearby wall as she ineffectually tried to shove him away with her hands, Avery's left hand on her stomach just underneath her breasts, and his right hand holding her left hand to her mouth, preventing her from saying anything other than angered squeaks. Leering, Avery put his face to her hair and gave it a sniff, with her trying to draw her head as far away from him as she could, when Severus suddenly said coldly, "Justin Avery, release Miss Greengrass now."

Avery, still holding Celeste's mouth shut, turned around and said angrily, as Celeste's eyes took on a pleading quality, "Can it, Snape! I've had about enough out of you; ever since last year you've been pushing me down, taking credit for my work. Now, if you will, I'm busy, so go away!"

Remembering Lily's words back from last October about Avery showing some of the signs of a future rapist, Severus was beginning to think that she had far more than a good point. In a voice that could have frozen Fiendfyre, Severus said to Avery as he drew his wand smoothly, without flourish, but with great speed, "Step away from Miss Greengrass, Avery, if you don't want a month of detention..."

Avery hesitated as he looked at Severus' prefect badge, then said, "Fine, Snape. Have it your way!" Avery then rudely shoved away Celeste, slamming her rather roughly into the wall and started to walk away, only to halt when Severus said calmly,

"Now then, two weeks of detention ought to sort you out..."

Whirling suddenly, Avery shouted, flecks of spittle coming out of his mouth in his rage, "How DARE you, Snape!? _REDUCTO!"_

Although Avery had improved significantly during the ongoing battles with the Marauders the past term, he was still woefully outmatched by Severus, who quickly deflected Avery's spell and fired a pair of spells, _expeliarmus _and _depulso_, almost before Avery could blink. Although he was able to shield himself from the disarming charm, the _depulso_managed to hit him dead on, sending him crashing into the wall ten feet behind him with a groan. Pushing himself back up, Avery said furiously, "Why, you littl-"

Severus quickly and smoothly interrupted with another _expelliarmus_, then interrupted, saying coldly, "Avery, I cannot condone what I saw you doing, just be thankful that you have only gotten detention; if things had gotten a bit further, I believe that I would have sliced that disgusting head of yours off of its perch. The next time something like this happens, you won't be so lucky, got it!?"

Avery spat, then said, "So much for our friendship Snape; I should have known that blood would tell with such a greasy git as yourself..." He then hurried down the hall, leaving Severus standing there, until he remembered that Celeste would likely need him right then. Swearing under his breath, Severus muttered, appalled at what his now ex-friend had been trying to do,

"So much for our friendship indeed, you disgusting freak..."

* * *

**_The Next Day Thursday September 17th, 1975_**

Lily sighed as she looked dismally around her fifth-year Potions class; somehow, it had gone from being one of her favorite classes, even surpassing Charms class, to one of the most boring ones in only one term. Ever since their first year, in both time-lines, Lily and Severus had had a running rivalry in Potions and, even after Lily had ended their friendship and they had changed to other partners, the rivalry kept going strong, as both were Potions prodigies and enjoyed being the best.

Now, however, without the thrill of competing with Severus, who had managed to catch up to her in skill quite well despite the fact that she had a whole other lifetime on him, Potions had become incredibly boring. Sure, Lily was making the same perfect marks as she always had, and her potions were still always perfect, but she was so much better at the art of making them that she had nothing to strive against; all that was left to compete against was herself, and that had never been half as satisfying as competing against Severus...

It was also made her feel like something was out of place, as she was sitting in the same seat as she always had, save for the two years when she and Severus had stopped being friends, and it seemed like the ghosts of the past, or future depending on how you looked at it, were sitting there beside her. James and Sabrina had offered to partner with her, but Lily had declined because she didn't want any partners except Severus and Mary anymore, as the three of them had deepened their friendship and relationships with one another to the point that it felt like , without them, there was a pair of wounds gaping in her chest, always bleeding.

Even when she had given up on Severus, in her foolishness, in the past time-line it hadn't been close to this painful, as she had managed to convince herself that she was doing the right thing at the time. That time, it had been the result of months of having to deal with how he seemed to be drifting further and further away from her and the side of the Light, and how he had started lashing out at everyone but her and laughing when her other friends were being attacked by his. Back then, if Lily recalled correctly, Mary, Sabrina and the others had begun to actively hate Severus, and the feeling was mutual, leading Lily to feel torn apart, and it had eventually just seemed easier to give up, as he seemed to not even care about her anymore, getting more and more interested in the Death Eaters and such.

In the end, Lily had become incredibly frustrated at how Severus had seemed not to understand what she was saying, and the 'Mudblood' incident had been the last straw. Now however, she realized that she had been so busy talking AT Severus that she had forgotten the basis of their relationship: mutual trust and understanding. In many ways, she had become so focused on 'what' Severus was doing, that she had forgotten to ask herself 'why' he was acting that way, completely missing how he hadn't been walking away from the Light so much as getting shoved out of it by almost everyone inside it.

'Now that I think about it, it really was perfect karma; James and I created the perfect instrument of our own demises through James' bullying and my incredible stupidity. If it hadn't been for the two of us and our actions, Severus probably never would have become a Death Eater in the first place, meaning that Voldemort never would have found out about the prophecy until it was too late, no danger from the prophecy, no search for us, and no reason to try to kill Harry or us, save for the fact that we were with the Order...'

As Lily rested her head in her hands, not even bothering to take notes, for she had long surpassed the point in skill that the material taught in this class would be helpful to her, she suddenly heard a voice in her ear, that of Professor Slughorn saying worriedly, "Are you alright, Miss Evans? You seem to have been quite out of it since the end of last term, what with how little attention you seem to be paying..."

Lily quietly said, "You are mistaken professor, it wasn't until after last term that I was really paying attention; only now do I realize just how much I have missed...'

Professor Slughorn looked rather confused, but nonetheless returned to the front of the class to continue his lecture...

* * *

As Severus and Lily talked about the punishments they had assigned the night before, with both of them generally agreeing on the other's decisions, Severus was thinking to himself, weighing his options based on what Mary had told him earlier that day...

_Flashback:_

_Severus and Mary were hanging out by the lake after their Transfiguration class, as their homework was already complete, and neither particularly wanted to return to the Slytherin Common Room at the moment, as Mary had left the Knights and Severus had put a halt to their favorite past-time of tormenting Muggleborns. The physical distance between the two was a little bit strange, as neither seemed to really know how close to be to each other. The two of them were talking right then, discussing spells that Mary might teach in _Terranum_._

_"Hmm, I dunno, Sev; I think that _Incarcerous _might be a bit too advanced for the students coming. Don't forget, some of them are only in their third year..."_

_Severus, back against a rather large stone, said calmly, "That may be the case for them at the beginning, but we are talking a bit of the ways into the term, you know? By that time, the students should be much more experienced, plus, at that point, I should be able to jump ship and give you some help."_

_Mary nodded, agreeing, then put her finger to her lips, a habit which Lily had told him meant that she was thinking hard, which she had stopped using ever since the night at the end of last term, when he had returned to his dormitory, only to find Lily's owl on his bed, having come in through the tunnel that Slytherin house had had installed long ago to permit owls to deliver mail, even after dark... Severus shook his head, not particularly wanting to remember that night, then Mary started speaking, quietly, "Severus, there is something I have to tell you..."_

_Nodding, Severus waited, then Mary looked at him nervously, before saying, "Before I tell you, promise me that you will listen until the end before you get angry at me. OK?"_

_Worried, as Mary had never been the type to engage in nervousness, Severus nodded slowly, only for Mary to say, "You remember when Lily was sending us those letters? Well, while I was telling the truth...I kinda shaded it. She didn't apologize for her actions, but her letters seemed to imply that she didn't know what she had done, which now I think might mean that it was an accident. Also, she said that she really, REALLY wanted to talk to you, just to see if you could forgive her. I thought that she might be trying to get you alone with her so she could finish what she started, but now I'm not sure."_

_Before Severus could even think of a response, Mary grabbed his hands and looked towards him with pleading eyes, asking, "I honestly thought that I was doing what I needed to do to protect you, but now I think that I might have been punishing an innocent woman. Please Severus, please forgive me!"_

_Severus searched her eyes with his penetrating gaze, which, even if he hadn't learned Leglimency yet, was still excellent at making you feel 'like you were under a microscope', in Lily's words. Seeing that she was genuinely remorseful, and having an annoyingly forgiving disposition to those he loved, Severus said quietly, "I forgive you, Mary."_

_Mary then smiled..._

_End Flashback:_

With the official business completed, Lily then said, "Severus, I have been doing some investigating, and I was wondering if you could answer some of the questions I have..."

Severus simply said, "I will answer what I can, Lily."

Nodding, Lily then asked, "OK, first question, is the reason that you are having difficulty answering my questions Dumbledore?"

Severus immediately said, "Yes, Lily."

Glowering at a random spot on the wall, Lily's eyes started flashing in anger and she started swearing profusely, so Severus waited for her to calm down so that she could ask more questions. Lily then asked, "OK, were you attacked in the Shrieking Shack by Remus in werewolf form?"

Shocked that Lily had figured it out herself, as he hadn't offered her any hints since before the first Werewolf incident, Severus was about to ask about it, when Lily said, "I figured it out myself, don't worry. Just answer the question."

Severus then simply said, "Yes."

Lily then took a deep breath, before saying, "Would you recommend that I go ask Dumbledore about what had happened that ni-" She stopped talking abruptly because Severus had already started shaking his head.

Apparently she didn't have any more questions, as Lily then nodded and said, "Thanks Sev..." Oddly enough, Severus no longer minded hearing her say his nickname, but couldn't dwell on it because she was still talking, "...I'll ask you and Mary more questions when I think of them, if that's alright with you..." Severus heard her mutter something about 'why?', but let it go.

Lily was clearly about to leave, but then paused, before saying, "Sev, could you tell Mary that I am sorry for giving her a hard time? I honestly didn't think that what had happened was that bad, so I was rather annoyed at her. For what its worth, I really am sorry what happened, and I will keep investigating until I find out what happened."

She then started walking out of the room, but Severus, thinking of something, first said, "Lily, would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me and Mary? I mean, once the first Hogsmeade visit rolls around that is..."

Lily beamed at him, nodded, then left, doing some weird hair-toss thing as she did so; Severus couldn't see why she did it, but he had to admit that he enjoyed watching her hair flow like that. After her eyes, it had always been one of her best features in Severus' mind...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Saturday September 19th, 1975_**

Mary was as nervous as she had ever been; before Severus had bumped their prestige to this height, she had never met any crowds before, and now she had to deal with about thirty students, a couple of whom she had never met before, and others who she knew all too well. Nonetheless, she breathed out her fear, and started talking, walking to the front of all of these students and fixing them all with a imperious stare reminiscent of Severus as she did so, "Hey everybody, welcome to _Terranum_! As you know, we are a Dueling/Auror Prep club, can any of you tell me what that would entail?"

Not much to Mary's surprise, no-one in the enchanted tent that Severus had managed to purchase as their meeting place answered, so she said, "Dueling, as most of you can guess, is the art of combat between those capable of spells, like witches and wizards. What we will be doing is focusing on the ancient art of dueling, with a focus on what would be necessary for you to become an Auror upon leaving the school..."

Mary continued on in that vein for several minutes, answering questions, until she came to her conclusion, "...Regardless, if you choose to stay, we, the members of _Terranum_, promise to protect you from the Knights, the Marauders, or anyone else who might seek to harm you, while training you to the point that you can go toe-to-toe with trained Aurors and hold your own. Now then, everybody pair up! I want to see how you are in dueling skill already."

Mary was glad that the number of students who had wanted to join was an even number, as it gave her leave to go around, watching each of the fifteen pairs practice,grading them mentally. 'Hmm, not too shabby, not too shabby, needs to diet, should quit before she leaves in pine box, very nice!' Stopping at the last one, a Ravenclaw seventh-year by the name of Broderick Bode, she said, after signalling for a break in the combat,

"Not bad at all. Tell me, where did you learn that particular spell?"

He seemed to glow slightly pink, causing Mary to mentally sigh, before saying, "Uh, you mean _Incarcerous? _Its not that uncommon you know..."

Mary nodded, then said, "True, but making it fire off the ropes in an arc rather than a straight line is a rather interesting touch that I haven't seen before. How did you do that particular trick?"

He mumbled something, then ran away, red-faced, causing Mary to want to laugh at him; she held it in, as it would be cruel to laugh at a boy who was so obviously crushing on her, yet tried to pretend not to have any interest in her, and she did understand unrequited love to some extent, what with Sabrina and the 'great' Sirius Black. 'Besides, I do need all the manpower I can get...'

The club soon finished, and the other students started chattering. Mary, smiled, as she had already begun her objective, which would have to be done with great care, as it would be a long, slow process making the students hate Dumbledore and believe that anything he did was wrong, solely because it was him who did it. She would need to shatter their faith in him, destroy their trust, and make them feel like he was the lying hypocrite that he really was, and that wasn't something that could be done in one lesson. 'I don't mind though, as it will be a nice project, and I have the rest of the term to work on it. Besides, its the Ministry's orders...'

Although she was surprised that the Ministry was interested in making everyone in her group hate Dumbledore in particular, she certainly didn't mind, as she might have gone for a similar idea on her own. Still, it was strange to say the least, as it seemed that the Ministry should have far better things to do with their time. 'Ah well, when Mr. Crouch and I have our meeting the first Hogsmeade visit, I can always ask...'

Soon, the other students started to leave, but her thoughts were then interrupted when, to her great surprise, Lily walked into the tent and over to her, saying softly, fidgeting as she did so, "Hey, nice turnout I suppose..."

Mary took a quick survey of everyone there and shrugged her shoulders, replying, "Yeah, but the dueling club will probably take a bit of time to get off of the ground, as I doubt that too many of the students here have the necessary willpower to handle this course. It shouldn't be a problem though, not in the long run at least..."

Lily then quietly said, still fidgeting nervously, "I am sorry that I did not send any letters to you, Mary. I just got so caught up in trying to regain Severus' friendship again, that I forgot to try and regain your's..."

Mary shrugged, as, honestly, it wasn't that important to her, and she had a confession of her own to make. Swallowing, Mary said, "No, I'm sorry that I didn't let Severus see any of the letters your owl sent him since the evening of the last Sunday of the previous term. If you really are innocent, and not some she-devil in the guise of a teenage girl, then I spent the whole summer preventing Sev from seeing one of his best friends, and I am truly sorry for that..." Mary wasn't one for tearful reconciliations, and she could sense that, if this kept going on, it might happen, so she said flippantly, "Anyway, I gotta go now, so I'll see you later!"

Lily nodded, and Mary left, soon making her way to a secret passage she could use, and smiled at the thought of the three of them becoming friends again, even tearing up a little, although she knew that she hadn't quite reached the point that she could really trust Lily again. Still, it was nice to imagine. 'Win or lose when it comes to Severus, if she is innocent, I don't want to lose my friendship with her ever again. She really is one of my best friends, and anyone who would work so hard to regain someone's friendship is someone I would be thrilled to have as my friend...'

* * *

As Lily laid down on her four-poster, trying to get to sleep, she couldn't help but get this niggling sensation that she missed something important that day, and it made her...rather annoyed. There was something about the encounter with Mary that was bugging, and she didn't want to stop until she had it.

'OK, let's see, she is clearly planning on building a rather tough training group, she wants to make up, and she is sorry about stopping all letters I sent by owl to Severus since...the evening? I hadn't sent him anything by owl for weeks before that, so why the evening specifically? If she specifically thinks the evening, and thinks I sent it, then it must have been by my owl, and that means...SIRIUS BLACK!'

**Author's Note: **The Ministry is plotting to make _Terranum_ hate Dumbledore, to what end? The reconciliation of the three friends proceeds apace, and Lily has come upon the final clue to the puzzle, but will she be able to provide proof? You won't find out until Chapter 38, as Chapter 37 is going to be an interlude of the likes of Chapters 17 and 27, even if it is without Lily...

Chapters 1 and 2 have been revised btw.=)


	37. Peter's Chance at Redemption

**The Law of Unintented Consequences**

**Chapter 37**

**Peter's Chance at Redemption**

_How the hell did HE get to go back!?_

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_A Place Beyond Time_**

_'It is most unfortunate that, despite how well you started, you have managed to fail dismally...'_

_"Hey! What do you-"_

Sirius opened his eyes with a sigh; apparently he had, somehow, lead to the destruction of his time-line, despite how he had managed to protect Lily and James and stop Pettigrew's betrayal from costing them their lives. 'Ugh, stupid Snivellus! I know that he must have been behind it! The time-line went out of whack when he tried to sully James' wife with his filth again...' He then sighed, burying his face in his hands. '...No, even I don't believe that; just like last time, I let my anger towards Snape get the best of me, and this time it didn't cost me my life, but rather an entire world...'

Sighing again, he looked around, finding himself at the Potter Manor he had stayed at after he and his family hat cut ties, until he had found a place of his own that is. 'Funny, even after all these years, I have never found a place that felt more like home than James' Parents' place; that was a place where I could finally feel like, by being a Gryffindor, I wasn't a disgrace, but rather a better person for it, unlike when I lived with MY parents...'

Banishing the still-healing wounds he had received from his parents for the moment, he looked around, wondering what he was supposed to do now. Suddenly he heard an unexpected voice, "Hey, Padfoot! How've you been!?"

Turning, Sirius grinned for a moment at the sight of his old friend, James, but his face then fell as he remembered what must have happened to cause him to be here as well. When Sirius had arrived in the afterlife, he had been informed that James and Lily had already left to go attempt to change the time-line in the past for the better, and couldn't come back until they had died or the time-line had been destroyed. Swallowing, he then said in an almost-whisper, "Hey, Prongs...What are you in here for? Death or failure?"

James looked down at the ground, seeming to have become fascinated with his own feet, then said, "I failed; I went back to the...incident in the Shrieking Shack, and I blew it, royally..."

Sirius frowned, thinking to himself a moment; while he had never been fond of Snape, and couldn't say that he would have been destroyed if he had died, he had truly regretted the fact that Remus might have been outed as a Werewolf, and possibly sent to Azkaban, for Sirius' own stupidity. It wasn't that he truly thought that Snape deserved to die, not anymore, as he had found out from James in the time-line he saved about how Snape had risked his life all the time that he had been a spy, solely because of his love for Lily, but rather that he viewed him as an unpleasant uncle, someone who you dislike to the point that you wouldn't mourn his demise, but not enough that you truly want to cause it. Bringing his mind back from his contemplations, he then said, "Prongs, how could you have possibly blown it worse tha-"

Sirius stopped as he realized the only way that it could have been worse, and James confirmed it by looking miserably at his own feet, saying, "Indeed, I underestimated the necessity of Snape to the time-line, and thought I could prevent some of the future problems of the time-line if I simply removed him, then covered it up. Unfortunately, it backfired completely, causing critical damage to the Order when it came out, and a bloody victory for Voldemort."

James then quietly said, in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper, "Through my own actions, I drove Lily to hate me with a passion that I hope never to see again, and it made me realize that our actions do indeed have consequences, both better and darker than I could have imagined. I could have saved that world, maybe won the girl like in our original time-line or, at the least, done what I should have done ages ago and given up on my bloody rivalry with Snape. He may have said the word that put the kibosh on his friendship with Lily and ended up joining the Death Eaters, but we certainly did our best to drive him to it..."

Sirius looked away, then said, a bit of defiance in his voice, "That may be, but he probably would have ended up joining Voldemort anyway, what with his predisposition to use the Dark Arts and such. I can't say that I am proud of what we did, but he was basically a bad egg in my opinion."

James then said, clearly troubled, "Maybe it would have been inevitable regardless, but we will never know for sure; who knows for sure? Maybe, if we hadn't all but shoved him away from anything resembling the Light side, solely because he had the audacity to be friends with a Gryffindor, he would have chosen differently, maybe staying on the Light side rather than the Dark one."

Sirius thought it over, then said coolly, "You do realize that, if he hadn't gone for the Dark side, the odds would have probably been significantly better than even that he would have gotten Lily long before we all wised up, right?"

James sat down for a bit, looking up into the sky, thinking, then said slowly, "I don't think it would have been that bad, Padfoot, because I can't honestly say I loved Lily for real up until after we started going out, you know? I mean, I certainly fell for her hard and fast once we started going out, but I was only loving the ideal of her until then. I didn't know her well enough to see her faults, or know her bad sides; honestly, half of the reason I kept going after her up until we finally got together was because I didn't want to lose to 'Snivellus'. Heck, when Lily finally gave in, I was halfway to deciding to go after Sabrina Percival!"

At Padfoot's mildly confused expression, James elaborated, "I truely love and I did fall in love with Lily, but it wasn't until after I had managed to break down her barriers and find her faults that I can honestly say I really loved her. In contrast, Snape knew that she was naive, rather prejudiced against the Dark side and overly judgmental, among other things, and he loved her anyway. It wasn't until seventh year that I reached the point that he had clearly reached well before O.W.L.s when it came to understanding her faults and loving her for them. I may hate the guy, but I can't help but think that she would have been just as happy, if not more happy, with him as she ever was with me, dashing good looks or no, and that's why I wouldn't mind it if I had lost to him, because he would have loved her as much as I ever did, perhaps even slightly more."

Sirius still looked like he would prefer to argue the point, so James decided to ask, "By the way, what happened in your time-line? I can't really get much of a look of what is happening in each of them you see..."

Sirius, clearly more comfortable in this topic, although obviously more than a little nervous, then said, "Well, you know how me and Snape get along like Basilisks and roosters, right? Well, when I arrived in your time-line, I managed to save you, Lily and Harry from You-Know-Who, since I managed to gather up about half of the Order to ambush him when he attacked, causing him to die. Needless to say, it made me quite a hero..."

James chuckled, teasing, "Padfoot, you were always a hero, even if the Ministry didn't agree..."

Sirius then continued, laughing a little before sobering up, "Well, afterward, you told me about what Snape had done to protect Lily, and to a lesser extent, you and Harry, and, well, I wanted revenge on him. You see, I partially blamed him for my death, and he hadn't changed in any significant way, to my eyes at least, since he was seventeen, so I convinced you to err...Keep him and Lily apart, even as friends, in spite of what he had done for the three of you, so that he wouldn't 'steal Lily from you'..."

James looked at him reproachfully, and Sirius continued guiltily, "It seemed like a good idea at the time, as it would punish him without causing any real pain to anyone else. Besides, I don't doubt that he would have tried to steal Lily from you if given half a chance, Snape never gave up on trying to regain her friendship; he was one persistant little bugger, and, what with how he had changed sides, was able to get Lily to be friends with him again after a couple of years."

Sirius coughed nervously for a moment, then soldiered on with his tale, "Needless to say, that put a lot of things out of whack; while the odds of Lily divorcing you for Severus were low back before you tried convincing her to leave him in the cold, if she figured out how you had been trying to keep him away, telling her that 'snakes never change colors' and stuff like that, even though you KNEW that he had changed and why...I suspect that the odds of a divorce would have been quite high indeed...Panicking, I, using my political clout, got him kicked out of the Order so that he wouldn't be around Lily or Harry, who he was beginning to influence, as much, then the angel suddenly called me back up, saying that I had failed..."

James sighed as he looked over at his best friend, as he was more than a little disappointed in him for what he had done, but he could understand it; while James had disliked Snape almost as much because he was closer to Lily that he was in the beginning, Sirius had seen him as the symbol of how his parents had acted, and attacked him mainly because he couldn't attack them. 'It might have been wrong to use Snape like that, a punching bag to work out Sirius' frustrations on, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, considering that it was as if we were attacking a Death Eater...'

James then said, "Padfoot, that had to be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard from you, and I've heard a lot of 'em; kicking Snape out of the order wouldn't help with that problem, and it only hurt the Order..."

Sirius then muttered sullenly, agreeing mentally, "Whatever..." Then, trying to change the subject, he said curiously, "So, Prongs, how is your little lady doing? I know that you couldn't see much, but I'll bet that you have those poorly-seeing eyes of yours trained on Lily's time-line every second you can. How is she doing?"

Deciding to bring it up again at a later time, James looked forlornly off into the distance, "She isn't 'my' little lady anymore, unfortunately. In the time-line she went to, back when we were fourteen, she fell for Snape, even though she tried dating me; apparently, when I was fourteen, I just wasn't the kind of person she really wanted to date, and Snape managed to make her fall for him somehow..." He then swallowed, trying to hold back tears, "Remember when the two of us were called back? Well, she somehow convinced the angel-guy to use the energy that was keeping her in that world without making her part of it to maintain it, even in its Apocalypse-class scenario."

Sirius, shocked, asked, "W-what would that do?"

James wanted to fire a few hexes wildly, blasting random objects to make himself feel better, but settled for saying slowly, angrily, "She left me, once and for all; even if she WERE to somehow rescue that time-line, she could never come back here, as she is forever bound to that particular world, and its afterlife. The worst part is, her odds of rescuing that time-line...They aren't that good..."

Sirius, curious now, asked, "What did she do that was so wrong? I mean, we either killed Snape or removed him as a spy, but I can't think of anything she could have done that would make the time-line worse..."

James thought for a moment, before saying slowly, "Well, its like this, in order to 'rescue' Snape, Lily got him and Mary Macdonald to become friends, and the two of them eventually started dating when Lily and I did, OK? Then there was some big incident which caused Snape and Mary not to want to be Lily's friends anymore."

Sirius looked at James, confused, then asked, "Why would that be so bad? I mean, Lily and Snape stopped being friends after fifth year anyway, so how bad could it have been?"

James continued by saying, "Its sorta like this: Mary and Snape's worst qualities sorta...feed off of each other; Snape is rather cold-hearted, amoral, and easily angered, while Mary is ruthless, has a bit of a cruel steak, and takes vengeance to an art form. When you put the two of them together, and toss in a furious rage at Dumbledore, you get...very bad things." As Sirius opened his mouth to ask a question, James shushed him and continued, "I don't know WHY they are angry at him, so don't ask, but I do know what they are planning to do, and its pretty bad indeed..."

Sirius then said, laughing humorlessly, "Yeah, I certainly remember how Snape could be when we were in school, and out of it, and Mary was always more than a bit cold-blooded when she got really ticked off, but how bad could it be? I mean, no matter how good they are, I doubt that the two of them could take on Dumbledore, even if he were asleep!"

James nodded his head dismally, replying, "Well, they are creating this organization, something _Terranum_, out of those Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who were neutral in our war against Voldemort, until he started killing them off that is. The two of them are making it into a dark mirror of the Order of the Phoenix in many ways; where the Order emphasizes protecting the innocent, courage, faith in one's friends, and mercy, _Terranum _emphasizes the destruction of the Death Eaters, hatred of one's enemies, and pure, utter ruthlessness."

Sirius thought it over for a few minutes, then said, "Um, I can't say that it is the best sort of policy, but its understandable, and it shouldn't be a problem, at least, not as long as they aren't fighting for the Death Eaters..."

James glanced at his friend, then replied, "Sirius, normally I would agree on you about that, but although they will be fighting the Death Eaters, that doesn't mean that they are our allies; in fact, its quite the opposite...Its one of those 'The enemy of my enemy wants to run me through as well' deals. In all likelihood, they will be the Order's enemy just as much as they are the Death Eaters' enemy; the worst part of it though is that there will be no relevant prophecy, so the only way to stop Voldemort will be sheer force, and we were badly outmatched on that end last time..."

Sirius shivered, remembering how, at times, the Order was outnumbered better than four-to-one, and how, if it weren't for Harry's defeating Voldemort, he probably would have taken over the wizarding world within the year. Silence ensued, then James spoke up, laughing a bit, "Oh, Padfoot, you probably won't believe this, but guess who else was sent back like we were?"

Sirius pondered for a moment, before shrugging, then James said, "Peter Pettigrew was sent back to improve the time-line as well..."

Sirius' eyes widened, then he started shouting...

**

* * *

**

**Author's Note: **Now, before everyone starts acting like Sirius, screaming at me, I want to explain something: the angel generally sends back those who could have made a difference for the better, but failed, yet would have prefered to have been better. The way I view Pettigrew is as a man who started off with some bravery, but it was whittled away as time went on, partially because of how even his friends seemed to enjoy putting him down, but mostly because he had grown accustomed to being protected by someone who was tough and strong. In the end, he allowed fear to rule him, which took him into a very dark place indeed, costing him everything.

Based on how his life ended, I think that he would have been capable of far greater things, had he not let fear rule him, like it did with Severus outside of Gryffindor Tower after the events of Snape's Worst Memory. I also suspect that he regretted what he had done and what happened, although I am not as confident about that one. As such, the angel sent him back to see what he could have done differently...

Now then, here is the summary of what has happened to the other time-lines since Chapter 27:

In Remus' time-line, things have changed significantly from canon; with his creation of the Wolfsbane potion, Severus and Lily have been awarded an Order of Merlin, Third Class, which has finally brought Severus the prestige he always wanted. In addition, as he was the only boy of his year NOT actively planning to be a Death Eater, he was made prefect, which put an immediate halt to any bullying of him from James, Sirius and Peter. After all, bullying someone who has the powers of the prosecution, the judge, AND the jury is almost suicidal, as long as you remotely care about detention. On an offtopic, Severus has been brought to the attention of Dumbledore, who plans to use him to bring as much of Slytherin as possible into the 'Light', as his friendships with multiple future Order members all but guarentees that he won't change sides... This time-line is still only a Bright rating however...

In Sirius' time-line, he let his fear and anger towards Severus get the better of him, and it ended up costing the Order their spy in the Death Eaters, which was far more important to that time-line than the lives of Sirius, James and Lily combined. It ended up costing them the war... This time-line was destroyed upon entering Apocalypse...

In Severus' time-line, Lily, who had fallen for Severus hook, line and sinker within about two years of James' death, ran into the same problem as the Lily in this time-line, not knowing how to let Severus know that she is interested without saying it directly which, considering how Severus doesn't want to rock the boat after finally getting her friendship back, put the two of them into a bit of a limbo. This lasted until Harry was about seven years old when Lily, finally getting tired of it, grabbed Severus' head one day, drew it to her own, and kissed him hard, putting the question to him which he gladly answered. They were married about six months later... This time-line is still in Golden Age rating, signifying that it is extremely that it will enter an Apocalypse...

In Peter's time-line, he was brought back to when he was first sorted, this time ending up in Slytherin rather than Gryffindor, where, ironically, he became friends with Severus because, although they hated one another in his original time-line, he wanted an ally in Slytherin who wasn't certain to enter the Death Eaters, and Severus was the only one his age who fit the bill. He and Severus have a surprising amount in common, considering that both have fears that they never overcame in the original time-line, which ended up costing them everything they cared about, Severus' of showing his true heart and Peter's of personal suffering. Because of his friendship with Severus, Peter has had to suffer through the attentions of the Marauders more than once... This time-line is still only a Benign rating...


	38. Circling Closer

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 38**

**Circling Closer**

_I think that we might just be able to trust her, and believe that she is innocent..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_The Next Day Sunday September 20th, 1975_**

Albus Dumbledore sighed and scratched his long beard thoughtfully as Lily Evans left, a scowl on her face; he hadn't wanted to refuse her request, but... 'With the evidence she was able to give me, I couldn't even prove her innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt, let alone prove Sirius Black's guilt...' In all honesty, Dumbledore had to admit that the evidence did more to prove her guilt than it did to prove her innocence...

_Flashback:_

_"Professor Dumbledore! A word!"_

_Dumbledore had been going on his way back to his office after a quick lunch in the Great Hall when Lily Evans had suddenly called out his name; looking back, he saw that she had apparently ran all the way over to him and was panting before him. Looking up at him, she said quietly, "I need to talk to you about something that happened at the end of last term, something important."_

_Recognizing the words 'end of last term' as indicating what he was already mentally calling 'The Second Werewolf Incident', Dumbledore quickly brought Lily up to his office so that they could have their talk undisturbed. Then she started talking,_

_"OK, Professor, I'm sure that you are aware of what happened with Severus and Mary at the end of last term, what with the Shrieking Shack and how they were attacked by Remus Lupin, in werewolf form, there. Well, I think that they received a letter from my owl that lured them there somehow, but the thing is, I had given Sirius Black permission to use my owl to send letters if his was busy. As such, I suspect that he used my owl to lure Severus and Mary there somehow, like he did earlier in the year..."_

_As Lily continued to explain her hypothesis, Dumbledore carefully considered what her words meant; unfortunately, considering that the futures of several childrens' lives were at stake, that meant that he had to be extra-thorough when it came to this particular case, as it wouldn't do any good if he got Remus forced out of the school for the sake of investigating someone who turned out to be innocent. As such, he weighed each word she said, before asking a quick question, "Miss Evans, did you at any point loan your owl to someone other than Sirius Black? You must understand, once loaned, even if it is for a short term, owls treat it as permenant permission of use unless you directly tell them not to service the person they were loaned to..."_

_Frowning, Lily said, scrunching her face up as she seemed to be deep in thought, "Well, I did give Sabrina Percival permission to use Smallwings once, before the holidays last year, but I doubt that she would have done it. She really has little to gain and all..."_

_Dumbledore stifled a regretful sigh as she continued, rambling as she did when she was nervous; while Lily, if innocent, had collected a fairly good amount of evidence, the problem was that none of this evidence did anything to prove her innocence, rather showing her possible guilt instead, as she would have certainly known all of this if she was guilty. In addition, thanks to the addition of Sabrina to the mix, Dumbledore couldn't even narrow it down enough, as, given how Sabrina felt about James, Severus' 'mortal enemy', it would make a lot of sense for her to attack him. Sirius' motivation was, of course, obvious._

_In the end, as Lily's tale wound down, Dumbledore felt that he had no real choice, and attempted to use leglimency to access her thoughts, hopefully proving her innocence in some way; what he got was something he had never experienced before in his life: when he had sought to access her thoughts, he was repelled by a barrier the likes of which he had never seen before, or even imagined could exist. Almost instantly, he was catapulted across the room and slammed into the bookshelves behind him, causing several of the books inside to fall to the ground as well as the sound of shattering glass as he knocked a trinket of his to the ground. Seeing this, Lily shouted as she rushed over, "Professor! Are you alright!?"_

_Wincing in pain as he got back up, Dumbledore replied, "I am alright child, do not worry."_

_'That barrier was by far the most potent Occlumency that I have ever seen; it is extremely odd that it is so powerful, as even Tom or I couldn't generate a barrier a tenth of its power. Even though she is clearly likely to become a powerful witch and has a great deal of potential, she is unlikely to ever touch the same level that Tom and I have reached, yet her Occlumency defies all logic in its strength...' He then frowned, as Occlumency of that strength would not only stop Leglimency in its tracks, but it would make it so that even Veritaserum would be no better than water when it came to getting the truth out of her. Down to his last option, Dumbledore then asked as he sat at his desk, _

_"Miss Evans, would you please extract your memories of the night in question as well as the ones where you gave permission to use your owl to Mr. Black and Miss Percival so that I may view them in my pensieve?" Nodding, Lily placed her wand to her head, then moved it away, before frowning as nothing was attached to it. She repeated the procedure two more times before Dumbledore attempted it himself; he frowned as he did so, for he could feel that the memories were available to extract, but, when he tried to extract them, they were blocked off by the same massive wall that had sent him flying when he tried to use Leglimency on her._

_Frustrated, Dumbledore had no choice but to say, "Thank you for your assistance Miss Evans, but I would strongly advise not mentioning your evidence or suspicions to your friends, as the evidence you have does more to implicate your guilt than your innocence. If you find anything else, do not hesitate to tell me, but there is nothing more that we can do as of right now..."_

_Lily was clearly disappointed at what he said, but she started to leave nonetheless..._

_End Flashback:_

What particularly troubled Dumbledore was the fact that, with Miss Evans' testimony, he had a problem: after what happened in Diagon Alley, the Marauders had managed to restore much of their former popularity amongst the non-Slytherins, partially because they had stopped hexing people. Making use of said popularity, Dumbledore had decided to form a faction, based on the Marauders, to compete with the Knights and _Terranum_, as the assumptions he had gone by for not creating such a faction were no longer valid. He strongly suspected that, while the Knights didn't hold much appeal to those he was trying to recruit, _Terranum _did, meaning that it could draw away the students he had been planning to induct into the Order of the Phoenix long before they were of age.

The problem was, with Miss Evans' new evidence, if she was innocent, that meant that Sirius Black,one of the leaders or his new organization, was likely guilty of attempted murder. However, if he went after the Marauder without evidence, much greater evidence than Miss Evans had provided, he would be destabilizing his power base for nothing, as the other leader, James Potter, would likely refuse to continue helping him without said evidence.

'This presents a problem...'

* * *

**_One Week Later Sunday September 27th, 1975_**

Severus looked across the Great Hall and glowered at the Marauders; although he and Potter had what was more or less a cease-fire going, Black and Pettigrew seemed to not particularly care, and were spending much of their time trying to aggravate him. Still, it was much better than it had once been, as they restricted themselves to insults for fear of detentions; nonetheless, there was still a great deal of hatred and loathing between Severus and the Marauders, not that he particularly minded.

'Frankly, even if it weren't for the years of bullying, I doubt that I would ever be friends with anyone so moronic and childish as them. They possess talent, without the intelligence to make use of it, nor the patience to avoid their ideas blowing up in their faces. Their arrogance is appalling, and they bullied people solely because they could and it was fun; I have no idea what Lily ever saw in them. Speaking of Lily...'

Severus frowned as he looked at the expression on her face; it was unlike anything that he had ever seen before, even on his own face when he was thinking of Potter with Lily several months back. Her eyes, eternally captivating as they flashed in either joy or anger, excitement or annoyance, had gone ice cold, with not even a single spark in them, almost like they were dead. Her face, always expressive, whatever her emotion, had become an iron mask, not letting the slightest bit of her feelings slip through. 'Dear Merlin...What happened?'

The look on Lily's face wasn't one of anger, sadness or even disgust; it was far worse: it was a look of cold, ruthless malice and complete loathing. Her eyes were fixed upon the Marauders, specifically, Sirius Black, and this look both chilled Severus to the bone and stoked his hatred toward Black to new heights, for, in Severus' opinion, Black deserved to die for being the cause of that look on Lily's kind face. Although sometimes her kindness made Severus very annoyed, especially when it came to all things Marauder, it was so much a part of the Lily he loved that the world seemed a little dimmer without it. Severus glanced over at Mary, eating her potatoes on his right, and noticed the same expression there that he bore on his own face, which caused him to smile slightly.

Although Mary and Lily hadn't been as close as him and Lily or him and Mary, the two of them had certainly become very good friends before the murder attempt on him, and Lily's actions after it, what with trying to get their friendship put back together by any means necessary had impressed Mary a lot, and caused her to grow rather eager to regain her friendship, even if she was still suspicious of Lily. As such, Mary had extended her protective blanket around Lily, just like she had around Severus, the same one that, when Dumbledore had allowed Severus's near-death to go unpunished, had caused her to build an entire organization from the ground up solely for the purposes of protecting him and making Dumbledore pay for his crimes...

Glaring again at Sirius, he whispered to Arcturus, who was picking morosely at the food on his plate on Severus' left because he was in Selene's doghouse after he had tried to get her a kneazle for her birthday, as she was highly alergic to them, "Hey, Arcturus...I was thinking that our comrades might be a little bit bored from lack of prey...How about we send them after...what is Potter calling them now again?"

Arcturus replied in a distracted tone of voice, seeming to be in the midst a difficult internal debate about whether or not his corned beef sandwich deserved to die, "The Guardians of Dumbledore's Mighty Socks or something like that; let's just keep calling them the Marauders and be done with it..."

Severus snorted at the poor joke, but said impatiently nonetheless, "Well?"

Arcturus shrugged, then said, still distracted, "Sure, that will be fine..."

* * *

**_Eight Days Later Monday October 5th, 1975_**

Lily growled as she entered her Potions class, challenging everyone with her eyes to just try and see how she was feeling; not being stupid, they all stayed as far away as they could. Over the past few weeks, the harassment by the Knights had not only continued, it had grown astronomically, and today was no exception; on the way to class from the Great Hall, she had been forced to dodge no less than six different feet aiming to trip her, three hexes and endure about thirty insults of 'Mudblood' and the light.

'I generally dislike fighting, but I have to say that the idea of cutting loose and sending half of Slytherin to the hospital wing is growing more appealing by the day; even Severus dealing with the Marauders never had to deal with punishment like this! And the worst part is that this is only the least of my problems...Stupid Sirius Black; I hope that he dies, is resurrected somehow, then blown to cinders. Repeat said process about fifty times and I think that it will make us even!'

Although she knew that she would never actually go through with what she hoped for Black, she couldn't say that she would mind watching someone else do it; as far as Lily was concerned, he had burned his bridges with her clear through with his little plot. Unfortunately, she was running into a few problems in making him pay for his crimes.

After her extremely disappointing attempt to persuade Dumbledore, Lily realized just how little evidence she really had; even though she knew almost everything the perpetraitor, Black, had done, she had learned nothing that would enable her to establish her own innocence or Black's guilt. As such, she hadn't mentioned her recent discoveries to either Severus or Mary, as she wanted to have proof before trying to claim innocence with them, rather than risk the almost-restored friendship they had. Instead, she had elected to make use of her Potions knowledge to brew a batch of Veritaserum for use on Sirius, then have them listen to the wanker confess to his crimes...

Speaking of Black, Lily glared at him again, incensed anew at what he had said to her two weeks ago, when he had all but confessed his guilt, yet had gotten angry at her for trying to prove it...

_Flashback Sunday September 20th, 1975:_

_Lily stormed up to Sirius, who was reading alone in the common room, apparently studying for Transfiguration class; upon seeing her, he waved and said brightly, "What's up, Lily?" _

_Furious at how happy he was when she knew about what he had done to Severus, Lily used a quick _Levicorpus_ and _Depulso _combo to send him crashing upside-down into the wall behind him, then she said coldly, "You won't get away with it, Black; I know what you did, and its only a matter of time before everyone else knows too."_

_Baffled and angry, Sirius then shouted, while still upside down, "What the hell is going on, Lily!? Why did you he-ACK!"_

_Lily interrupted him by punching him in the stomach as hard as she possibly could, then said, "I know what you did at the end of last term, how you tried to have Remus kill Severus while in werewolf form! Now then, this is your first, last and only chance, go and confess to Dumbledore now, before I do it for you! If you do this, then I promise that I won't let Sev and Mary use you for target practice next time they want to practice their _Sectumsempra _spell!"_

_Sirius blanched for a moment, then recovered with a small smirk, saying coolly, even though he looked extremely strange upsidedown with his robes only kept from falling over his face by his hands, "You're bluffing; if you actually COULD prove my guilt you wouldn't have bothered coming here, and just went straight to Dumbledore. Even if I were guilty, big 'if', you can't prove a single, bloody thing." He then said angrily, "Besides, what would be the problem anyhow? From what Dumbledore told James and I, Snape and Macdonald made it out safely enough, and its not like the world wouldn't be a better place if they hadn't! The two of them are nothing more th-YEOUCH!"_

_Lily calmly fired another _Depulso_, causing Sirius' whole body to slam itself against the wall so hard that Lily was sure that he now had a wall-shaped imprint all over his back, then said with a voice filled with utter loathing, "Frankly, Sirius, I think the world would be far better off without YOU in it, but apparently we have to suffer through YOUR presence regardless! I admit, I was bluffing about having proof, but I wasn't bluffing about letting Mary and Sev take care of you; if you don't turn yourself in now, then when I have the evidence, I am going to go and let THEM decide what is a proper punish for worthless! Pieces! Of! Slime! Like! You!" As she said the last six words, Lily kicked him in the chest as hard as she could once for each word and Sirius gritted his teeth to keep from screaming in pain._

_She then said softly, her voice filled with the kind of malice she had only heard before from the lips of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange, "One thing to keep in mind, Sirius Black, is that there is no such thing as a perfect crime, and if I have to spend the rest of my bloody life finding the mistake that you made, I will GLADLY do so!"_

_With one final _Depulso_ for good measure, Lily then turned and left the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving a badly hurt and dazed Sirius crumpled on the floor behind her..._

_End Flashback:_

When Lily had told Sirius that she would be happy to spend the rest of her life proving her innocence, she had meant it, but what she had said was geared more towards getting him to slip up rather than really believing that there was proof lying around. However, Sirius had had years of practice pretending innocence after pranking someone, so he was still laughing and joking like their confrontation had never happened, so no-one was able to tell the difference, although the fact that Lily and him avoided speaking with each other whenever possible caused some gossip to go around that he had made a pass at her and was sent back on his hindquarters.

Still, Lily wasn't one to give up, and she had decided that she would find out the truth by any means necessary. As such, she had started brewing a cauldron of Veritaserum in a secret tunnel on the sixth floor, figuring that it wouldn't be discovered anytime soon as James had told her that, in her past life, he hadn't managed to find it until well into sixth year. Unfortunately, it would be another two weeks until she was able to use it, and she would have to be extremely careful, as using Veritaserum without Ministry permission was a crime punishable by up to six months in Azkaban. 'Punishment or not, its worth the risk, as long as it gets me the proof necessary to restore our friendship...'

Realizing that she was getting lost in thought, Lily tried to pay attention to Slughorn's lecture, but without Severus' presence providing someone who could compete with her seriously, it was frightfully boring. Even the one time that she had tried to sit together with James and Sabrina hadn't changed it at all. 'I just can't get my interest piqued without Severus here to compete against; that is another thing that Black will suffer-'

Suddenly the dungeon door opened, and she whirled around, only to see Severus and Mary standing there, almost glowing in the torchlight, Severus with a sardonic sneer and Mary with a slight smile standing beside him. Slughorn only nodded over to them before telling them to "Grab a seat."; Lily's heart raced and she was fairly sure that she was blushing as the two sat down beside her, then she asked quietly, "You came back...? Why?"

The two of them glanced at each other, then Severus said sarcastically, smiling slightly as he did so, "Apparently the Ravenclaws are less intelligent than their House's reputation would indicate; neither Mary nor I could stand another day working with dunderheads such as them..."

Lily hugged the two of them, causing Severus to blush slightly before he hid his face with his hair, then she beamed at him, causing Mary to roll her eyes, before saying "So do you add this now...?" as she grabbed the bottle of Combustion Concoction that Lily had made a couple of weeks before, which caused both Lily and Severus to shout "NO!", causing Mary to flinch and drop the potion inside. Severus had time to mumble "Dear Merlin...", then the potion exploded, showering them with a rather disgusting cocktail of ingredients...

* * *

_**One Week Later Monday October 12th, 1975**_

Mary frowned a little as she thought over the events of the past week; there was something going on involving Lily and Black and she didn't like it. The look of loathing on Lily's face whenever she looked at the young Gryffindor meant that, whatever it was, it wasn't just big, it was huge; never, at any point of Mary's friendship with Lily, had she seen her look at anyone with hatred, not even Mulciber or Avery, and Mary knew that she had plenty of good reasons to hate them.

Mary herself only tolerated Mulciber, and she hated Avery, as, like with Mulciber, he had hexed her more than a few times, and with his probable rape attempt on top of it...It was a very good thing that he was likely never to meet her in a dark alleyway, yet Lily had never looked at them like she looked at Black now.

What was particularly annoying was that, whatever Black had done, Lily for some reason refused to tell her or Severus, trying to placate them with a fake smile and a change of subject, neither of which could fool the two of them, who knew her better than anyone, for very long. Mary would have been suspicious about Lily's keeping secrets so soon after the three of them had started being friends again, but she couldn't imagine what her sudden hatred of Sirius had to do with them, so she and Severus only watched her whenever they could, both worrying, but unable to do anything but watch.

'I wish she would just tell us; unless it is something like her actually being guilty of the murder attempt upon us, it couldn't be that bad...'

Wanting to clear her mind of such a depressing topic, Mary then sighed and glanced over at Severus; letting her eyes roam over her ex-boyfriend she couldn't help but smile as she watched him brewing the Bamboozling Brew that he had prepared for next week's Potions class. Even though they had just received the assignment today, Severus couldn't help himself from working on it at the first opportunity, not that Mary minded, as she got to see Severus at his best, when he was utterly focused on something and his brilliant mind was working hard to improve it, and the fact that he fit the 'Dark and Mysterious' type to a 'T' didn't hurt her attraction for him at all, nor did his rather fit body.

He would never be the most physically attractive, but he wasn't that bad, and his intelligence drew Mary to him like a moth to a flame; there had been other boys that Mary had been attracted to, even Black at one point, something she was glad she had never told anyone, but no-one had managed to take her interest and make it nearly all-consuming like he had. Her love for him had reached the point where she admitted to herself that she would be willing to sacrifice her life for him if it proved necessary, and she suspected that Lily felt the same way as well; it was the only reason that Mary was even willing to consider her as her rival.

'Of course, I have no intention of getting into a situation where sacrificing my life for him should prove necessary; if I sacrifice myself, then it will only hurt him. As Severus said, it is far better to sacrifice others for the sake of the one you love than sacrifice yourself...' A while back, Severus had told her of a quote he had heard from his father, paraphrasing it as the original wording was inappropriate for a child his age, that the American General, George Patton had said, and how he had made it his own.

'No shmuck ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb shmuck die for his country.' Mary and Severus agreed with this ideal completely, as both of them would much rather put people like Avery and Black into their graves rather than let any of their small group get harmed...Suddenly noticing that Severus had stopped due to what appeared to be a break, Mary said,

"So, Severus, what do you think? Should we pair Celeste and Bode together in group four? Or should we split them up and put Celeste in group four and Bode in group five?"

Severus thought it over carefully, then said, "Crouch said that he wants each group to be capable of handling any and all expected situations, so I would say split the two of them up, as we don't have many who are as good with Charms as those two are."

Mary nodded, then said teasingly, "You know, Sev, I think that you might be getting a crush on Miss Greengrass here, what with all this complimenting of her..."

Severus blanched, then said with a tone of embarrassment, "Hey! Just because she happens to have good marks in Charms doesn't mean that I want to date her! I dated you didn't I?"

Mary laughed, then said, "I dunno...I think that Charms marks might just be your Amortentia..."

Severus had by then turned slightly red with embarrassment, so Mary decided to cut him a break, "OK, OK, its fine..." She then grinned as a thought struck her, "I guess this means that you will have to be my pack-mule instead when we go to Hogsmeade next week!"

Severus was clearly about to protest, but suddenly had to turn as his potion started to bubble, apparently indicating that it was ready for the next step. Mary mentally cheered for a moment, knowing that Severus would be far too late to do anything about it after she told Lily about his willingness to be a pack-mule...

Chuckling as Severus went back to his potion, Mary smiled as she finished up the roster so that it would be ready to mail to Crouch; it had been a stroke of pure, absolute luck when he had been there to debrief them after the Diagon Alley incident, as it had given her access to a wealth of resources she hadn't expected, such as the transcripts of everyone in the school and nearly a thousand galleons for equipment. Even more luckily, those resources were about to go through the roof, what with Minister Bagnold stepping down for him after being blasted in the press for making promises that the wizarding world would be completely safe for the years to come if she were re-elected mere days before the incident.

It had been quite a surprise to the two of them, but Crouch was completely in support of their ideas and had even come up with his own suggestions; he was a man after their own hearts. He, like them, understood that war was coming, and it would certainly be a bloody one; unlike Bagnold, who had preferred to pretend that the signs on the horizon were not predicting war, Crouch had no intention of being caught flat-footed, and had started taking steps in anticipation, such as the creation of _Terranum_. Like Mary and Severus, Crouch had realized long ago that the Ministry simply wasn't set up for a total war, as the Aurors, while well-trained, were first and foremost detectives, not fighters, and the plans on recognizing the actions the Death Eaters took as criminal were a mistake, as it meant that they had to be proven to be guilty of crimes...

Instead, Severus and Mary had suggested that he view the Death Eaters as rebels, guilty of sedition and treason by definition; this would mean that, rather than needing to prove their guilt to prosecute them of any crimes, the Ministry would be empowered to simply kill them, as the crime of treason was punishable by death...

Then there was _Terranum_...

**Author's Note: **Severus, Lily and Mary continue circling closer and closer to each other, but the incident at the end of last term still has a wedge between them. Crouch has succeeded at what he had always tried to do in the original time-line, become Minister of Magic, and Dumbledore continues to try to protect the 'greater good', even at the cost of individual people's happiness.

For those of you who are wondering why Lily's mind completely shut out Dumbledore and why she was unable to withdraw a single memory, it has a rather simple explanation, and it is because of the one difference between her and every other human being on the planet...

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I am sorry it took so long to come out (I had a lot of different, conflicting ideas where I could take the plot; what can I say?). The next Chapter of 'What if? The Purgatory of Lily' will probably come out before the next chapter of this one does (It may be a shameless plug, but I strongly suggest reading it!).


	39. Poignant Tranquility in Hogsmeade

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 39**

**Poignant Tranquility In Hogsmeade**

_It was the calm before the storm..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Five Days Later Saturday October 17th, 1975_**

Sirius smiled as he breathed a wary sigh of relief; although he had been quite confident in his planning for the prank on Snivellus being foolproof, he knew that Lily was, when she put her mind to it, one of the smartest witches he had ever seen. One of the things he had been counting on when he had set up his plans was the fact that Lily, although very good at seeing the best in people, had a tendency to only look at the surface of situations, rather than taking the time to really work them over; it meant that, as long as nothing happened to make her suspicious, he likely would have gotten away with his plan easily.

Unfortunately, Lily had apparently managed to figure out his guilt even if she couldn't prove it, but given the fact that it had been nearly a month since she had confronted him, Sirius figured that he was home free. 'This is getting ridiculous; she's making me jump at shadows for a small mistake I made back in JUNE! I mean, I completely forgot that the prank and James and Lily's little date were supposed to be on the same night! There was nothing I could do...'

In addition to the whole fiasco that occured at the end of last term apparently blowing over, there was another reason that Sirius was happy; loyal to James, he hadn't complained when he and Sabrina got together, and he had finally given up on her, having fallen in love with a girl he hadn't really noticed before: Alexandra Gregory, a Gryffindor fourth-year. The difference between this girl and the other girls that Sirius had fallen in love with was that Alexandra actually returned his feelings, realizing that although he had a small problem with Snivellus, he was a genuinely good person.

Speaking of Gryffindors and their girlfriends, Sirius watched for a moment as James and Sabrina walked down the road to Hogsmeade with them, hands entertwined; Sirius, although still slightly jealous, had to admit that they made a pretty good couple. Both of them had similar viewpoints of right and wrong, and where James did an excellent job of getting Sabrina to loosen up, something which wasn't too difficult, Sabrina could help him understand the minds of other people better, helping him to mature.

'Honestly, its a good thing that James found someone who understood that sometimes one has to get their hands dirty in the battle against evil, such as the Death Eaters and bloody Snivellus... It really is too bad that he has banned us from attacking the greasy git anymore...' Sirius frowned as he thought of the last part, but he quickly pasted a smile on, not wanting to bother his friend or his girlfriend.

However, James then turned back and seemed to notice his displeasure, telling Sabrina "You go on ahead for a moment. Sirius and I need some time for 'guy talk'.", then he walked over by Sirius' side as Sabrina rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

Sirius looked away, not wanting to listen, as James started saying quietly, "Padfoot, you really have to let this thing with Snape go...I mean, we owe him a lot for helping Moony out; if it weren't for him, Moony would probably be a prisoner of Greyback's werewolves, or, at best, he would be stuck going to some other school." He then chuckled a little, then said with a smirk, "Besides, after what happened last year in our battles with his posse, I don't think that going after him would be a good idea. Think about it, OK?"

Sirius nodded tersely as James then walked back to his girlfriend, not liking it, but forced to agree, as Mary's new group _Terranum _had a lot of nasty rumors about it going around, such as it being a secret demon-worshipping cult or a Death Eater front organization like the Knights of Walpurgis. He could no longer afford to go after Snivellus, as he had someone of his own to protect now: Alexandra... 'Even ignoring how much I think I love her, there is no way that I would be willing to risk that really great rack of her's just to fight Snivellus...'

* * *

"You know, Lily, we should be awfully grateful..." Mary said with a smirk, laughing a little as she did so.

Lily suppressed a giggle and replied with a tone of mock-seriousness, "Why ever so, Mary...?"

Mary replied with a grin, eyes sparkling as she laughed some more, "Why Lily, Severus Snape here has ever so kindly agreed to carry our things while we go around shopping today, and he's such a strong, handsome..." Mary paused for a moment, giving both girls time to see Severus blush, before continuing, "...Little pack-mule!"

Lily burst into laughter as Severus' face fell and he looked rather disenheartened for a moment, before groaning and saying aloud, just loudly enough for the two girls to hear as he glowered at them both, "Merlin, I hate you..."

Lily then smiled winsomely, a technique that she had found in page Sixty-eight of her guide to flirting, but wasn't quite sure she succeeded given Severus' raised eyebrow and Mary's snort, but she said anyway, "Don't worry, Sev; we love you too."

The three friends were walking together towards Hogsmeade for a nice day away from the castle for the first time in a month, taking the time to relax. Although things were still tense between them, like they had been for a long time, the trio had decided to take a break and enjoy the excellent shopping of Hogsmeade...At least, the two girls had; Severus, in his own words, 'would rather be caught dead than shopping like you two ninnies!', but his snark was muted and Lily suspected that it was only for show rather than actual dislike of the idea. She supposed that, for him, it was his way of enjoying himself, by spreading his wit and snark to everyone around him in a somewhat good-natured way.

As Lily mused, Mary said with a touch of seriousness, "We certainly do, Sev..." As she did so, she drew Severus' left hand into her own and smiled brightly.

Lily was instantly jealous of Mary's flirting technique, which clearly had Severus failing to maintain his frequent frown and even caused him to blush slightly, although not much of it was visible when he used his hair to shield his face like that. She fumed privately as the trio continued on their walk to Hogsmeade, hating how Mary could make Severus smile and blush with such ease while Lily could only get strange looks from him. In the end, unable to take it anymore, she grabbed Severus' right hand in her own, then waited for him to say something.

Several seconds passed before Lily took a peek at Severus, who smiled back at her, causing her to blush. Lily then noticed the slight frown on Mary's face, before the brunette grinned back in challenge, before moving closer to Severus, causing him to look over in her direction. Lily's Gryffindor nature not allowing her to back down from a challenge, she imitated her female best friend/rival and shuffled a little closer to Severus, smiling and saying brightly, "Come on Sev, its a nice day out; you are allowed to be happy you know..."

Severus then said, in a somewhat miffed tone, "I am happy; its just that my definition of happy doesn't include my traipsing around Hogsmeade, carrying your bags like some housebroken wimp, or Potter."

As Severus and Mary started laughing at his joke, Lily had to fight to keep her own giggles back; clearly Severus had noticed how James, when he had been in Hogsmeade with her earlier that year, had kept grinning agreeably as Lily piled him down with luggage which, even with his skill at spellwork, eventually weighed him down to the point he had been forced to give up. 'Its nice how James was so willing to help, but he made rather a bit of a spectacle of himself with how helpful he was willing to be...'

One of the more interesting differences between the two boys had always been their their respective approaches to pride; James really didn't mind making a fool of himself in his pursuit of her because he generally had no pride in himself and his work, in spite of his arrogance, as he had shown on several seperate occasions. For example, rather than putting time and effort into learning new spells in order to beat Severus, he had just taken Severus', and rather than trying to impress her on her own merits, he had always relied on his parents' Galleons and the accolades he received from his peers to do the job for him; if it hadn't been for the way that he honestly cared for his friends and fellow Gryffindors, Lily would have never even considered marrying him.

In contrast to James, Severus had a vast quantity of pride hidden beneath his sometimes-low self-esteem; whenever he did something, he always committed himself to it to the fullest, his pride preventing him from making a halfway effort. When he had made friends with Lily and Mary, he had clearly dedicated a great deal of time to discovering their likes, dislikes, and what they cared about, when he had been bullied by James, he had created a multitude of new spells in order to fight him as effectively as he could, and, in a not so good example of this trait, when he had joined the Death Eaters in the original time-line, he had taken it upon himself to be the best, bravest and most powerful Death Eater he could possibly be...

Unlike many of the other Death Eaters, Lily had never heard tales of her ex-best friend in connection with Muggle Baiting or Muggleborn torturing like the Malfoys and the Lestranges had always seemed to enjoy; she would have almost prefered to have heard those tales however, rather than the ones she had heard of him, stories of his bravery, loyalty and iron will being used in the service of the most despicable monster ever spawned.

It had reminded her of what her father had told her about World War II, where even though the Nazi regime had been utterly despicable, the soldiers who had fought for it had been in many cases some of the bravest and best examples of soldiers ever produced. It had been truly horrible to hear of how, when Mulciber had been wounded in a battle against the Ministry Aurors in Diagon Alley, rather than fleeing like the coward that James had always accused him of being, Severus had singlehandily killed three of the Aurors, including Sabrina, in the defence of his friend, before managing to drag him out of the anti-apparition wards and to safety...

Lily broke from her musings when she realized that, while she had been distracted, Mary had somehow moved so close to Severus that her breasts were rubbing his arm with every step, as she cradled his hand in both of hers, still grinning at Lily in challenge. Unwilling to back down, Lily quickly shuffled so close to Severus that her left breast was smushed against his arm.

Lily then noticed that Severus was no longer even trying to hide his smile, nor his blush, and smirked back at her rival, unable to keep from snorting as she considered the probable ending point if she and Mary kept up this game of one-upmanship going to its logical conclusion, then Mary's eyes suddenly widened as she shouted, "Lily! Pole at twelve o'clock!"

Turning swiftly, Lily wasn't in time to prevent herself from smacking facefirst into the sign that welcomed visitors to Hogsmeade. She then crashed to the ground, red-faced from both pain and embarrassment. Still, she certainly didn't mind it when Severus offered his hand to lift her up, concern clearly visible on his face as he asked, sounding quite worried, "Lily! Are you OK!?"

Smiling at the look of concern on his and Mary's faces, Lily said in complete honesty, "I've never felt better than I am right now..." Lily couldn't help but laugh at the looks of confusion covering their faces...

* * *

James took a moment to think as he, his best friend and his girlfriend slowly walked through the only wizard-only village in England together, having nothing better to do then glance into windows and such as they had already finished their shopping, having gone to Honeyduke's and Zonko's already. It was hard to believe that a mere two months ago he had been sobbing over the end of his relationship with Lily and now he was going around Hogsmeade with a new girlfriend.

He glanced over at Sabrina, who was arguing animatedly with Sirius about why Quidditch was NOT a good idea to talk about with Alexandra if they went on a date together, then James grinned. It was a little strange how much easier it was for him and Sabrina to get along than it had been with Lily now that he thought about it; Lily had always been a bit too strict for James' taste in some ways, and she had always been trying to change him, for his benefit to be certain, but it had gotten rather annoying how she had harped on and nagged about his battles with Snape so much until he had finally broken down and stopped attacking him.

It wasn't so much that he still wanted to hex Snape, as it was the principle of the matter; if a girl is interested in someone, it shouldn't be because of what they might make him become, but rather what he was already. In the end, part of the reason that he hadn't minded Sabrina kissing him back in June to begin with was because it had finally become too much, between the 'please try to be friends with Severus' and the 'You really should be more mature about your pranking' talks. In contrast, while Sabrina certainly scolded him a time or two, she seemed to like James exactly as he was, and he certainly liked, perhaps even loved, her for that.

Part of the reason he had always been SOOO jealous of Snape was the fact that, while Lily scolded him and nagged him sometimes, she seemed to be perfectly happy with him as he was; for some reason, the snarky git had been just fine in her eyes, while the man who was Quidditch captain and the most popular person in Gryffindor wasn't good enough for her. 'Of course, now that I've seen his better side I can sorta, maybe, see why she liked him, but it still smarts!'

He then smirked as he happened to glance in the nearby Flourish and Blott's, where Lily, Mary and Severus were all arguing animatedly over a collection of books, Lily gesturing to what appeared to be a magazine while Severus shook his head and Mary, with her hand on Severus' shoulder, pointed to another book. He watched for several seconds as Lily, realizing that Mary had her hand on Severus' shoulder, imitated her with her hand on his other shoulder, shoving the magazine in his face as she did so. James snorted in amusement as, losing his balance, Severus fell, sending the trio crashing to the floor.

James enjoyed the situation with the three of them very much as he suspected that Lily thought that Severus was going to be an easy prize to win, now that she had finally decided to pursue him; while previously the situation would have made James burn with jealousy, he was instead feeling a savage sense of satisfaction of seeing Lily fall head over heels for Severus, as it made him feel quite good to watch Lily have to follow James' own path, trying desperately to win Severus from the incumbant, Mary.

While the vast majority of the school 'knew' that Mary and Severus had broken up on accounts of incompatibility or some rot like that, Sabrina had told James in confidence that Mary and Severus were only pretending not to be together until they had built up _Terranum _to some extent, so Severus could safely jump ship from those bloody Knights.

'I can hardly wait until I can see the look on her face when Lily realizes exactly what she is up against...'

* * *

Celeste enjoyed her walk through Hogsmeade, simply watching the other students; it was a great pleasure for her to be able to simply enjoy life without the company of the rest of the group she had been assigned to. She understood the reasoning, but it was still annoying to be unable to spend much time without the company of her groupmates.

A few weeks ago, Mary had assigned all of the members of _Terranum _into groups after explaining the 'true purpose' of the group, letting all of the members know that, if they had problems with what would be ahead of them, it was their last chance to leave; fifteen of the forty who had attended meetings had dropped upon hearing her explanation and what would be required of them, and all had been required to sign contracts not allowing them to reveal _Terranum's _purpose.

As Celeste continued walking, she thought about what Mary had said about each of these groups: _"You will be closer than even your housemates; if they are like your family, your groupmates will be so close to you that it will be as if each group will be one mind, one purpose with five bodies to house it. If you are in danger, your groupmates will protect you at any cost, and if your groupmates are in danger, you will protect them at any cost..."_

It had only been a short time, but Celeste could already begin to see what Mary had meant; although there were some squabbles between the groupmates, the exercises that Mary had put them all through had already started to pay dividends, and Celeste found that it was frequently easier to talk to them than any of her other friends. 'Of course, considering some of the exercises that we have been through, it is no surprise that it is easier to talk to them; none of the rest of my friends would understand...'

She remembered some of the things that she and the rest of her groupmates had had to do for training and shuddered; as Mary had said, it was awful and horrifying, but it was necessary that they learn it, as they would need to do something like it sooner or later. What they would have to do as members of _Terranum _would be something that would likely give many of them nightmares, but if they didn't, someone else would have to do it, or they would all perish...

_"From what I have seen and heard and from what Crouch has told me, the coming war against the Voldemort and his Death Eaters cannot be prevented by burying our heads in the sand and waiting for them to kill us all; Voldemort doesn't care about treaties or laws, he only wants to kill everyone and everything he hates or considers a threat. He cannot be bargained with, nor can his followers, only crushed like you would crush a poisonous serpent about to bite you." Mary then looked around determinedly, before saying furiously, seeming to be like a goddess of war in human flesh as her long brown hair seemed to glow and her brown eyes sparked with anger, "His followers claim they can 'Eat Death'; well then, _Terranum _will drown them in it!"_

Celeste then looked around, noticing that she was almost to the Shrieking Shack, then sighed. 'I truly hate the idea of this war, but if Mary and Crouch are right, then _Terranum _must be ready and willing to fight, die and kill in the name of the wizarding world...'

* * *

"Sorry, guys, but I have to go and meet...someone." Mary glanced apprehensively at Severus, who nodded. Although she certainly liked how the trip to Hogsmeade had been going for them so far, especially with the spirited flirting with Severus that she and Lily were doing, she knew that the meeting she had decided to have with Sirius was long overdue.

Lily looked confusedly from one to the other, then smiled, saying, "OK, Mary, have fun! Don't worry, Sev and I will be fine!"

Severus only nodded, before saying quietly, "Good luck Mary; I hope that...the meeting goes well."

The two of them exchanged looks, then Mary quietly said "Goodbye.", and walked slowly away. She had enjoyed their walking about, spending time in Hogsmeade very much, as it had been the perfect way for the three of them to unwind, and watching Severus blush like that had been so cute, as he tried to be so graceful and impressive all the time, so it was quite hilarious to watch him blush like any of the other boys in Hogwarts, especially considering how they had already been dating. She loved how, even though she had seen more of him than probably any other girl, with the possible exceptions of his mother or Lily, he still became all awkward when she flirted with him just the right way.

It was particularly gratifying to do it in tandem with Lily, ganging up on Severus in a way, as the two of them together managed to make him blush more than he ever had on his own...

_Flashback:_

_"Come on, Sev, take a look at this!"_

_"Oh, come off it Lily! That guy is such a hack, and Severus knows it! I mean, his version of the blasting curse is a joke compared to mine!"_

_"Just because YOUR spell is better doesn't mean that he is a hack! I'll bet that Mr. Gudgheon has far more knowledge of Defense against the Dark Arts than you will!"_

_The two girls were arguing as they pored over books in Flourish and Blott's; Lily, although an experimenter like Mary and Severus when it came to Potions, was still a bit old fashioned when it came to DADA, preferring to learn the basics of everything first, then improving upon them, rather than going off of almost pure instinct like Mary did. Mary suspected that it was because of their prefered fields: Charms, while not a 'soft' option like many people seemed to think, tended not to have much in the way of improvement available in its options because they generally were so straightforward, while Transfiguration's base was change itself, with just about every single casting of it being different._

_'Or maybe its because she views everything as coming from basic building blocks rather than a less...regimented view; I dunno...' Mary mused to herself as she continued arguing verbally with her best female friend. Finally though, Severus, who had been busily trying to read The Potioneer's Digest, a relatively new Potion's magazine, said exasperated, but still smirking in a way that told both girls that he was thoroughly enjoying himself listening to them,_

_"How about the two of you just agree to disagree for now; Merlin! The two of you are like an old married couple sometimes!"_

_The two girls blinked, looked at each other, then backed away from one another for a few steps before Lily smirked, saying loudly, "Well, Sev, I suppose that bringing this girl into our marriage wouldn't be THAT bad; I mean, she looks like a brunette version of one of those Barbie dolls if you look at her right!"_

_Severus' eyes popped and he blushed in such a way that both girls couldn't help but laugh themselves to tears, before Mary, taking pity on her (currently) ex-boyfriend, said mirthfully, "Relax, Sev, she was just kidding!"_

_Lily smirked, then pretended to check her out, saying, "Well, we really could do worse! I mean, she does have a truly magnificient rack if you think about it..." As Severus' face did an imitation of a tomato and his brain looked like it was about to suffer a meltdown, Lily said, laughing, "Don't worry, we're both just kidding. Besides, great breasts or no, she is still wrong about Mr. Gudgheon!"_

_"He is nothing more than a pretentious phony, Lily, and you know it!"_

_They then continued with their argument as if nothing had happened..._

_End Flashback:_

Mary smiled as she continued walking; she had had a great time as they shopped, but that particular memory reminded her of something not so enjoyable, the fact that, as much fun as it was to match flirting wits with Lily, who had learned the physical part quickly over the course of the day by watching her, it did nothing to deal with the major issue: the fact that, in the end, there could be only one winner of Severus' heart, and the loser would go home heart-broken.

Mary then thought about how, even though she didn't want to lose Severus, she didn't want to see Lily's heart broken either, for she was too precious to Mary, then she sighed. 'Maybe it would be best if Lily's joke were real...'

**Author's Note: **We don't know what Severus did in his time as a Death Eater, but I felt that a Death Eater 'paladin' would be an interesting change of pace from the near-monster that many fanfics make him at that time. Let me know if canon disagrees with this take.

James doesn't hate Lily, but he certainly takes a bit of pleasure to see her unhappy after she dumped him (Understandable if you've been dumped). Still, he doesn't know about what's going on with Sirius, nor do I suspect does he want to know...

_Terranum's _Purpose has finally been revealed, more or less. It isn't an 'pure and good' organization like the Order of the Phoenix, but rather more like a necessary evil...

I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, but I have to warn you all, the next couple of chapters will be quite dark indeed, as many of the characters will be undergoing their 'trial by fire', so stay tuned; it won't be pretty, and Lily will have to make a choice that is both darker and harder than anything she has done before, in EITHER time-line...

Stay tuned!

For those of you who have been waiting for the next chapter of 'What if? The Purgatory of Lily', I ran into a bit of writer's block, but I think I have it more or less squared away.


	40. Trial by Fire Part One

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 40**

**Trial by Fire Part One**

_It doesn't matter if it is real so long as he believes it..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Saturday October 17th, 1975_**

Sirius kicked the ground with his feet nervously as he waited for Mary to show up; he didn't particularly want to see her in any type of venue, but she had simply said "Be there or we will have to have this conversation in front of all your Gryffindor buddies...", so he didn't have much of a choice, considering that he didn't want to have to explain to the rest of Gryffindor house exactly why Lily suddenly hated his guts, plus they might reveal how Lily had been investigating the Marauders, and Sirius knew that Mary was smart enough to put two and two together. Still, he knew that things could get very...intense if he wasn't careful, as he knew that Lily was right about what would happen if Mary found out.

'Hell, 'intense' is a understatement of epic proportions; Mary would probably kill me where I stand and blast my corpse all over the U.K. If I'm not careful, I'm not in trouble, I'm dead!'

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming down the path to where he was, in a forest just outside of the village where there wouldn't be an audience. Turning, Sirius grimaced as he saw Mary walking up to him, looking determined and angry; she stood right in front of him and then said, in an imperious tone of voice, "Start talking, Black. Why does Lily suddenly loathe you?"

Sirius bit his lip, thinking quickly, then said, faking embarrassment, "Err, I kinda made a pass at her and got a little carried away; nothing major though!"

He sweated as Mary seemed to think for a second, then said scathingly, "Well, I guess it shouldn't surprise me considering what a pretentious prat you are." She then paused for a moment, before saying with a laugh, "And that is the reason that she hates you guts all of a sudden; what a sad, pathetic little girl, isn't she?"

Sirius, relieved that she seemed to be cottoning on, said smoothly, "I know that I can be a bit of a playboy, but that doesn't mean that she should hate me for the rest of my bloody life for it; frankly," He leaned forward conspiratorially, "I heard that she might be getting in trouble with the Headmaster for something or other..."

Mary laughed again, then said with a chuckle, "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, how dumb do you think I am?"

'Uh-oh!'

Sirius gulped as, quick as a flash, Mary pulled out her wand and pointed it at the ground at his feet, firing an orange jet of energy at it; a split second later, the ground exploded, knocking him back on his behind and positively shredding his robes below the knee, and causing several cuts all along his legs in the process. Mary then said coldly, "Start spilling or I start hexing, Black!"

He quickly whipped out his wand, but mary had an_Expelliarmus_ good and ready to blast it out of his hands before he could even begin to start a hex, crushing him even further to the ground in the process. She then crouched down in front of him, poking him in the chest with her wand and saying, "That was awfully foolish, Black. Now, tell me why Lily hates you all of a sudden or this will be...rather difficult for you."

Knowing that, as bad as she might hex him for not telling, she would hex him even worse if he did, Sirius knew that this was an easy decision and shouted, gritting his teeth, "I made a pass at her, and that's it! If she said any more then she is lying!"

Mary looked him over, clearly thinking carefully, then said conversationally, "I suppose that the fabled Sirius Black's bravery isn't all for show, is it? You would rather get hexed into the hospital wing than tell me the truth, wouldn't you? Either you are really brave, or this secret is truly awful indeed..."

Sirius held his breath, waiting for her to come to her conclusion, while nervously hoping that she wouldn't figure it out. Finally she said, still in that same conversational tone of voice, "I suppose that there isn't much point in hexing you, is there? You are clearly willing to go to the hospital wing to keep your secret, and nothing I do to you can make you tell me what is going on between you and her."

Sirius said nothing as she seemed to consider something, then she said with a malicious smirk, "Yes, you are indeed brave, but you forget one thing: I used to be a Gryffindor." She wagged her finger at him with that same smirk, then said in a voice that was ice-cold, "You are willing to suffer to keep your secret, but you have a single weakness..."

She then chuckled, and Sirius finally said aloud, nervous at her chuckling, "What is that?"

She then looked at him with an ice-cold glare and said in a calm voice, "You are willing to suffer, but how about your friends? Would you be willing to sit there and watch as they are suffering because you are unwilling to tell me?"

Sirius glared back at her and shouted angrily, "Keep my friends out of this you disgusting Slytherin slimeball!"

Mary then said, equally calmly as before, with pure malice in her eyes, "You have one week to tell me and be truthful about it; if you don't then Alexandra Gregory, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew will all share one thing in common: they will be enjoying a nice, extended stay in the hospital wing. If you still won't tell me, then I'll keep it up with the rest of Gryffindor, except Lily of course."

She then got up and walked away, smirking at him as he rushed over to his wind, saying only, "Remember, one week."

As he picked up his wand, Sirius turned to spray her with hexes, but she had already gone out of line-of-sight, leaving Sirius there to shout, "GET BACK HERE YOU EVIL HAG! LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!"

Only the sounds of the nearby woodland creatures answered him. Then he noticed that someone had been apparently listening in on their conversation...

* * *

Lily tried to keep herself amused by looking inside of Honeyduke's, but she was still quite disappointed at how the day had turned out so far; both Severus and Mary had taken off, pleading prior engagements with Lucius Malfoy and, according to Severus, Sirius Black respectively, and Lily was very worried about both of them.

Lily knew that Sirius Black had been behind the murder attempt on Mary and Severus, and Lily wouldn't put it past him to try to kill her again, a fact that saddened Lily greatly, as Sirius had been such a brave man and good friend in the original time-line, yet in this time-line he had clearly changed for the worse.

In contrast, while she was pretty sure that Severus wasn't in any physical danger from Malfoy, she knew that he would try and corrupt Severus into joining the Death Eaters like he did in their original time-line; knowing what she knew now, she wouldn't have been surprised if Severus' beliefs in joining the Death Eaters being the right thing to do had been because of Lucius' influence. The man was a snake, and not just in the matter of being a Slytherin, for while, like Severus, he had a great skill for manipulation, he always used his skills for the detriment of all those around him. In contrast, Severus had always tried to use his manipulative skills for his friends and the Greater Good in which he claimed to not believe.

Most of all though, Lily was worried because, without Severus and Mary nearby, there was no-one to distract her from the disturbing dream she had had last night. It seemed to be the conclusion of the latest set of them...

_Flashback:_

_Dream-Severus only looked at her sadly, then said, "Are you willing to join the darkness? To do foul deeds for my sake? To join the Death Eaters should I ask__? To suffer for my sake if necessary?"_

_Dream-Lily then asked, confused, "What do you mean by that Sev? What do you mean...?"_

_Dream-Severus then put his right hand to her left cheek and stroked it tenderly, before saying, "I mean that it is time for you to finally decide something; Lily, you have to decide just how important I am to you..."_

_Dream-Lily looked into his eyes and said, passionately, "Severus, I would give my life for your sake gladly! That is how important you are to me!"_

_Dream-Severus smiled slightly, then said fondly, "Just like a Gryffindor, you misunderstand my question again." He then continued in a graver tone of voice, "The problem is that you are looking at this like a Gryffindor when you should be looking at it like a Slytherin. I am not asking you to throw away your life to be at my side; my question is a far darker one. You will soon be given a choice that is darker and more terrible than anything you can possibly imagine. The question isn't whether or not you are willing to suffer for my sake, it is whether or not you are willing to cause others to suffer for my sake, sacrificing all of your principles and beliefs for my sake. It is not an easy question to answer, but I am afraid that you will have no choice but to answer it in the near-future..._

_Dream-Lily looked shocked and unsure, as Severus continued, sadly yet hopefully, "Will you fall from grace for me?"_

_End Flashback:_

Lily still had chills from listening to Dream-Severus' questions; she remembered how, back when they had first started attending Hogwarts, Severus had tried to explain to her the difference between the two houses' way of thinking. She had disagreed with him, thinking that the way Slytherin house thought about things was, quite frankly, monstrous, and Severus had thought that the Gryffindor way was quite naive...

_Flashback:_

_"Lily, the problem with you Gryffindor's is that you see everything as all about you." Severus said as the two of them munched on a plate of sandwiches they had nicked from the great hall. As Lily glared at him while chewing quickly, Severus continued placatingly, "I'm not saying that you are selfish, although some of you, Potter for example, are. What I'm saying is that you all only look at yourself and what you can do to change things."_

_Having chewed her sandwich, Lily said, interested, "So? What's wrong with that? Everyone has to make their own choices, you know..."_

_Severus seemed to think, then said, "The problem with that is that you only consider yourself and what you can do; you don't consider what other people can do as well as how valuable they are to you. For example," He leaned back, stretching himself out on the grass as he continued, "what if me and that friend of yours, Sabrina were both about to be hexed and the person hexing us, Potter for example, said that you had to choose one of us to be hexed, what would you do?"_

_Lily thought for a bit, then said triumphantly, "I'd tell him to hex me; that's what I would do!"_

_Severus rolled his eyes, then said exasperatedly, "OK, he hexes you, then asks the same thing again. What would you do? You have to sacrifice one of us to save the other, and you can't sacrifice yourself, so who would you let Potter hex?"_

_Lily said angrily, "I can't believe that you're making me choose between you and another of my friends, Sev! What would you do if YOU were in my shoes!?"_

_Severus then said easily, "That's simple; I would tell Potter to have fun with Sabrina and take you back home, safe and sound. That sort of thing is what we spend all of the time doing in Slytherin. If it was between you or Sabrina, it wouldn't even be a real choice to be honest."_

_Lily looked at him furiously, incensed that he would so casually let Sabrina be hexed, even in a hypothetical scenario, then she stormed off in a huff..._

_End Flashback:_

After having spent several years as an Auror and fighting against Voldemort and his goons, Lily had begun to understand what Severus had meant, even if it was rather distasteful. He had been trying to say that, in spite of Gryffindor courage and self-sacrifice, sometimes it wasn't enough, sometimes even Gryffindors had to make choices about who or what was more important to them, then follow through on them, even though it was painful.

'And if that dream is any indication, calling it painful will be the understatement of the century...'

* * *

Celeste had a bad feeling as she walked towards the Shrieking Shack; she had been feeling it ever since midway through her walk through Hogsmead, the feeling that someone hostile was following her.

In fact, said bad feeling was the primary reason she was walking there in the first place, as there was plenty of open ground there in case she was being followed. It was one of the tricks she had learned in the tactics portion of what Mary had been teaching them during their thrice-weekly _Terranum _meetings; although it opened her up to long-range hexes, it prevented her from being surprised and, if done properly, gave her plenty of room to run.

Pretending to casually glance around, Celeste carefully surveyed the area; there was a nice ridge overlooking the Shrieking Shack, with a dirt road and a fence, as well as plenty of rolling grassland nearby. Deciding that this was the place to meet her assumed pursuer, she calmly walked over to the fence, turned around, and waited, relaxing her eyes but still making in she took in every single detail.

Several minutes passed by, then, seeming to realize that there was no point in trying to sneak up on her anymore, Justin Avery slowly trudged into view with a malicious smirk on his face and a domineering aura in his every stride. 'This is not good...not good at all...'

In addition to the fact that Celeste KNEW that if it weren't for Severus' rescuing her back in September she would have been raped by the Slytherin wanker, the fact was that, even though Celeste had been doing quite a bit in training, Avery had a lot more experience in actual combat than her, thanks to the war between him, Severus and Mary, and the Marauders last year. Added to the fact that she didn't have anyone else to back her up, and Celeste was starting to get very worried indeed.

'I knew I should have just found my groupmates instead of trying to lure him out; I just knew it!' Celeste's self-scolding was interrupted however by the Slytherin brute.

"I should have known that a pathetic blood-traitor would be here waiting for me; now then, would you prefer this to be over with quickly? Of course you would, so just lift up those robes, pull down those knickers, and we can be done in five minutes, just like last time..." Avery said all of this with a confident, leering expression.

Celeste then said furiously, yet feeling a sickening, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, "What do you mean, 'Last time'?"

Avery chuckled, then said with a smirk, "How annoying it is not to be remembered for my prowess!" He then laughed at his own joke, before saying, "Severus only caught us once; we have had several happy unions already, even though you can't remember them. I am awfully good with my Memory charms after all. I couldn't have you trying to pretend they were anything but consensual...Now then, let's get this over with, slut. Its been several months since we could have our fun, and I'm tired of waiting!"

Celeste shouted "Go to hell, Avery!", but he only laughed and moved closer with a leer visible in his eyes, before saying with an evil grin,

"Oh, come on, Celeste; it won't be so bad. Just like the last three times you will end up crying you are so happy..."

Realizing that, while she had been listening to him, Avery had taken advantage of her distraction to casually move towards her, and he was now only ten feet from her, Celeste was quite worried indeed, but this time would be different, she would make sure of it...

* * *

Severus shivered as remembered when he had sat down with Lucius Malfoy; the man had been one of his biggest role models for several years, but recently Severus had started to become more and more disillusioned with the man and his ideas. Lucius' tales of the Death Eaters and the stories he had heard from his own sources had painted very different pictures of the organization that Severus had so dearly wanted to join. Severus had agreed to meet the man mainly because he wanted to see how Lucius would react to his little Muggleborn-attacking ban for the Knights.

'I suppose that it would have made the sun set in the east if he had actually been happy about it...'

He wasn't; for nearly twenty minutes straight, Lucius harangued him about how he was betraying the cause with his antics, telling him, in more polite terms, that his pathetic obsession with Mudbloods had to stop and his association with said Mudbloods. If he didn't, Lucius said, there would be long-lasting consequences for his failure to do so. 'I can't say that threat is too impressive anymore, what with Mary, Lily and _Terranum_ backing me up, especially considering just what Mary and I have been crafting _Terranum _into...'

Severus shivered as he thought about _Terranum's _true purpose; it was...distasteful and wrong, but there really was no other choice but to do it as they had. 'I don't think that I will be receiving any awards, medals or accolades for my part, but the Death Eaters really do have to be stopped, whatever the costs; the members know what they will be, and most of them have accepted the fact that they will not be looked at as heroes, but rather as monsters...'

Severus thought it quite ironic considering how he had, for a very long time, wanted to be a hero, someone that Lily could look upon and say "I am proud to call this man my best friend and husband.", but he had grown to realize something after the conclusion of his war with the Marauder: accolades, respect from others, popularity, none of that was really important to him.

For Severus, the only thing that had come from that war that had been of any real importance to him was the fact that he had been able to protect Mary. To Severus, protecting those he cared about had become the only thing that was of any real importance to him...

He swore a silent oath to himself that neither Lucius nor even the Dark Lord himself would ever lay a hand on the heads of the two girls he cared about the most. 'I don't care if I am hated or reviled by the rest of the world as the monster I will have to become; if it is necessary, I will gladly become a demon if that is what it takes to stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Even if the entire world spits on my rotting corpse, at least there will be a world left to spit on it! Lily and Mary will be able to live in a world without Voldemort even if it should cost me my dignity, my pride or even my life!'

No, Severus wasn't afraid of Lucius for what he had said, but rather furious about something that Lucius had said mid-rant, something that made him realize just how low the Death Eaters were willing to sink. _"You WILL stop fraternizing with the enemy such as that Macdonald girl! She is only fit for a swift burial! Only future Death Eaters are fit to be your friends, Severus. Remember that!"_

To Severus' knowledge, Lucius didn't know about his or Mary's betrayal of the agreement they had made; that meant that _Terranum _had never really been intended to join the Death Eaters. No, instead Severus had far darker suspicions of what Lucius had had in mind when he had ordered Mary to create _Terranum_...

'At least there is one piece of good news; Mary is moving faster than we had even dreamed. At this rate, _Terranum _will be ready for anything the Knights can throw at them in not even a few more weeks. This game is almost over, and the truth will be unveiled, whether the Knights or Dumbledore's Defense Association are ready or not!'

* * *

As Lily walked out of Honeyduke's, a shadowy figure waited nearby, smiling maliciously. When she had her back turned, he pointed his wand straight at her and muttered _"Stupify..."_, chuckling as she slammed into the wall in front of her, unconscious already. To his great fortune, most of the Hogwarts students had already combed through Honeyduke's, so there were no witnesses as he used a charm to lighten her, then picked her up and carried her away, after pocketing her wand...

'Its about time she gets what is coming to her! Oh well, even if I can't hurt her physically, the worst torture of all is that to the mind...'

**Author's Note: **The Trial by Fire Arc has begun. This will clearly not be a happy Hogsmeade trip; many of the characters will be tested, but Lily and Celeste most of all... I decided to post this extra fast due to the huge number of reviews to the last chapter, so consider that as you decide whether or not to review...

Also, I have a new challenge for those of you who, like me, enjoy both the SSLE and SSHG pairings. A copy of it is posted on my Profile page. Please do try it out if you have the same interest I do=).

**_Time-crossed Love Triangle Challenge: A challenge for those who, like me, have always wondered how a love triangle between Severus, Hermione and Lily would turn out. _**

**_Rules: _**

_#1: Fifth-Seventh Year Hermione Granger returns to the Marauders era with no way of getting back(Method is unimportant, but it must be permenent). _

_#2: She arrives AFTER 'Snape's worst memory' and joins Hogwarts as a student. _

_#3: Hermione, for whatever reason, preferably a selfish one, tries to change Severus for the better and ends up falling in love with him, with him 'reasonably' unchanged from his canon personality at that time. _

_#4: After watching how Hermione has fallen for Severus, Lily falls for him for either the same or different reasons. Feeling regretful for her actions in Snape's Worst Memory, Lily forgives Severus for the SWM incident and apologizes to him for her actions outside the Gryffindor Portrait hole with Severus forgiving her. _

_#5: Severus, who has already started to fall in love with Hermione, is torn between the two of them... _

_#6: Final Pairings must include Severus and AT LEAST one of either Lily or Hermione. Also, James can end up with neither of the Female leads. _

_**Optional Bonus Point Rules:**_

#1: Severus, Hermione and Lily all end up together in the end, REALISTICALLY.

_#2: Severus joins neither the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix, yet is critical to the war all the same._

_**Message me if/when you post something based on this challenge, as I would love to read it!**_


	41. Trial by Fire Part Two

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 41**

**Trial by Fire Part Two**

_My torment has begun, but it will be worth something at least..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

_**Saturday October 17th, 1975**_

Justin grinned as the battle between him and Celeste continued; she had certainly improved since their last 'encounter', wherein she could barely even muster up one hex before he took her down, then took her. In this fight, she was certainly being quite tricky with her spells, but she was still hampered by the fact that she was casting her spells verbally while Justin was casting his nonverbally. As such, Justin could easily counter her every move as long as he stayed at a distance, something that he had learned in the war with the Marauders.

'Still, considering that she isn't holding back even slightly, I should be very careful...' Avery quickly dodged a _Reducto _aimed at his neck. 'Very careful indeed...'

Clearly, Celeste had no intentions of taking prisoners, or leaving Justin breathing; it was obvious to Justin that she wasn't merely trying to stop them from 'making love', but actually aiming to kill him. It was awfully lucky that Mary hadn't taught him that spell, _Sectumsempra_, that Severus had taught her, as Justin suspected that, verbal or no, that spell might be able to kill him, even if the penetration wasn't so good...

He frowned as he dodged another triple _Reducto_, starting to get a bit angry. 'I can't believe that she is acting like this though! I mean, she should be HONORED that she, a pathetic little blood-traitor, is getting the chance to be with someone like me! If she doesn't quit this NOW, then I'll stop being such a bloody nice guy!'

Putting action to thought, Justin immediately fired a _Stupefy_, then fired another one where Celeste was dodging; although she was able to dodge the brunt of the blast, the jet of red light still spun her around when it hit her in the left arm and she was barelly able to keep from crashing to the ground. Justin tried to take her out of the fight with a quick _Impedimenta_, but she was able to dodge behind the nearby fence, which splintered when it was hit.

Cursing mentally, Justin said aloud, sneering, "Having fun playing hard to get? Well, I'll show you just what you've been missing since last time when I getcha! You don't know just what you're missing until you've rode the Justin!"

Laughing in response to his own lame joke, Justin immediately hexed Celeste when she said aloud, clearly confused, "That's not very funny you kn-AH!"

Scoring a direct hit, Justin quickly _Impedimenta'_ed the pathetic bood-traitor as she tried to aim a reddish jet of light at his head, but aimed too high, then started tying her up with _Incarcerous_. He didn't want to Stun her because it just wasn't the same when she couldn't feel it. Not wanting to forget anything, he quickly _Silencio'_ed her, then said aloud as he straddled her for a breather from the rough combat, "See? That wasn't so hard, was it? Now, down to business..."

Celeste, unable to move or speak, could only glare as Justin pressed his hands to her shoulders and began kissing her neck feverishly, planning to take his time to enjoy his 'lover' as, blood-traitor or no, Celeste Greengrass was certainly hot...

* * *

Severus sat down to wait and think outside of Flourish and Blott's; when he, Lily and Mary had planned the day out, they had expected that the meetings with Sirius and Lucius would take a while, so they had agreed to meet back at Flourish and Blott's at about five in the afternoon. Unfortunately for Severus, his meeting with Lucius had gone by much quicker than he had anticipated or planned, and he was nearly half an hour early to their planned meeting-spot.

On the bright side though, this gave him some time to think; now, he had always been a bit clueless when it came to girls' affections, save for Lily's, and even she confused him sometimes, but this was something he could hardly miss. 'Either Lily is very, VERY interested in being more than friends with me, or her definition of 'friendship' is far more enjoyable and...arousing than my own...'

Unfortunately, while the idea of Lily actually having fallen for him was more than terrific, it was a textbook example of 'good things that cause big problems'. The idea of being able to go out with, kiss, date and marry Lily was something that Severus wanted to do very, very much, but while she had been making up her mind, Mary had been making moves on him.

Things had changed from the last time he had thought about the two of them, yet in some ways the two girls had stayed very much the same; while his friendship with Lily had seemed to end during the events of the end of last term, Lily had proven herself to be a fighter the likes of which Severus had never seen. Not in combat-skills, although he suspected that her skills at combat were superior to his or Mary's, based on the events in Diagon Alley at the end of August, but rather in sheer stubbornness, as well as her utter determination to be his friend, even when he didn't want her to be.

'I mean, I did what I had promised myself I would never do, and called Lily a Mudblood, rejected her friendship, ignored her letters, tried desperately to avoid her at first, and she still kept trying as hard as she could to be my friend. I don't know if I would have what it takes to keep trying after all that, but she clearly did...'

What Lily had done reminded Severus of exactly why he had always wanted her to be his; even if she didn't always succeed, her sheer determination to do what was right had always endeared her to him, even if their definitions of right and wrong differed somewhat. As he had said before, she was like his light, and made him into a better person by just being nearby; however, he no longer wanted to keep her light solely to himself, he wanted to hold her and protect her so that she could illuminate the world, as corny as it sounded...

However, now he no longer had to pursue her, yet he still thirsted for Lily's light; as much as she had lit up his days when she had been only his best friend, he now felt like there was a sun beating in his breast whenever she was nearby, like he was as good and pure as people had always CLAIMED Dumbledore to be. Now that he had her, Severus wanted to take Lily, his guardian angel, into his arms and never let go...

In contrast, Mary had shown clearly to Severus that she was willing to do whatever it took to help and protect him, yet succeeded in not compromising herself or her ideals as she did so. Ever since the events of last term, the two of them had been preparing for the inevitable; it was clear to them that Dumbledore, whatever his unknown intentions were, clearly had no problem with the idea of allowing his non-Gryffindor students to nearly get killed, and it was equally clear that he had to be stopped by any means necessary.

The fact that doing that had also helped the Ministry to prepare for war against the Death Eaters and possibly the Order of the Phoenix had been the icing on the cake, especially because _Terranum_, once officially created, would cause the Ministry to give Severus and Mary something that would finally enable them to put Dumbledore exactly where he belonged, in Azkaban for life...

'Crouch is right about one thing at least, NO-ONE, not even the so-called Champion of the Light, Dumbledore, is above the law...'

Mary, unlike Lily, didn't imbue him with light and goodness; instead, Mary helped him unleash his dreams and desires, giving him the strength necessary to carry on whatever the world was throwing at him, and firing his own attacks back at it three-fold. Around Mary, unlike with Lily, he didn't necessarily feel good or bad, but rather that he had the strength and will to do anything. In Mary's presence, Severus found what he had always been looking for when he had joined the Knights: confidence, the respect of those around him, and the power to protect himself and those he loved. He wanted to keep her with him always...

Where Lily was his guardian angel, Mary was his avenging angel, and she was truly brilliant at it; Severus knew that, if anyone ever attempted to cause harm to him, Mary would be there to make that person drink deep of the bowl of wrath, not caring what that person's reasons were, only that that person had caused harm to him. He might not become a better person around her like he did with Lily, but Mary didn't care about that; Severus suspected that even if he became a Death Eater, or even the Dark Lord himself, Mary would still be there at his side. Like with Lily, he wanted to take Mary into his arms and never let go...

'How many men would kill for this problem? I have two women, beautiful both inside and out, attracted to me, and who I am attracted to, who would be positively THRILLED to be romantically involved with me. The only issue with this is the fact that I have to make an impossible choice: I have to choose only one of these two incredible women, and give up completely on the other one, no matter how much I might wish it weren't so...'

Severus sighed ruefully; it was almost five o'clock, and he had no idea where Lily or Mary were, nor even the slightest clue which of them he would pick, so it really wasn't important anyway. He then chuckled as a thought came to him. 'Heh, maybe the two of them will want me to take BOTH of them, and I won't have to deal with this decision...!'

* * *

Mary chuckled as she walked away from Sirius Black, leaving him to talk to his friend, James Potter. 'I wonder if he knows that I was bluffing about attacking his friends? Oh well, it doesn't matter whether or not I was bluffing as long as he THINKS that I was telling the truth; Severus made a good call when he suggested threatening Black's friends.' She then drummed her put her finger to her chin and started to think; Mary had the feeling that Sirius might have revealed something in what he didn't say that might lead her to the truth...

'OK, he doesn't mind getting pummeled in order to keep his secret safe; that means that, whatever the secret is, revealing it would be worse than getting pummeled. As such, it is probably something involving the 'Defense Association' OR something that we would punish him for with worse than a pummeling, and whatever it is, Lily doesn't want to tell us about it yet...'

She suddenly blinked and broke off that train of thought as she looked over the tops of the nearby trees. A pair of red wings made out of red sparks was visible, hovering over what appeared to be...she calculated quickly...the Shrieking Shack. 'The red wings...'

Mary immediately started sprinting through the edge of what was actually a small portion of the Forbidden Forest; in order to communicate, _Terranum _was temporarily using a simple system of marks in the sky, similar to what Severus had heard of something called the 'Dark Mark', which was supposedly going to be used by Death Eaters. In ascending order based on level of danger, there were green circles, blue writing, and red wings; considering that whoever had created the mark had used red wings, that person was in extreme danger.

Mary truly and honestly felt sorry the fool who had caused a member of _Terranum _to create the red wings mark, as that mark symbolized the ultimate in Keep It Simple Stupid planning: every person near the red wings symbol who isn't a member of _Terranum _is to be knocked unconscious or, if they were hostile, killed if necessary, and Mary knew that the members of _Terranum _would do it too...

_Flashback Saturday October 3rd, 1975:_

_Mary looked out upon the fortyish members of _Terranum_ who had arrived for this meeting in the tent they generally used for training; she sighed, knowing that she would hate this part, but wanting to make sure that they would understand exactly what they would be in for if they were members. Mary then said aloud, "Members of _Terranum_, listen up!"_

_The idle conversations immediately stopped, and Mary continued in a moderate, yet carrying tone of voice, "I assume that, by now, all of you know the contents of the Death Eater Suppression Act by heart now, but I will be reminding you of the key points anyway, just to make sure that all of you know exactly what you are in for if you continue as members."_

_Mary then paused and put her hands behind her back, before continuing, after making sure that there was a _Muffliato _charm preventing non-_Terranum_ members from listening in, "Upon its unveiling in December of 1975, a time-limit will be put into place, to expire in exactly a year and six months time; during this time-limit, all current members of the organizations which serve Voldemort, henceforth referred to as 'Death Eaters', will be given the opportunity to inform the Ministry of their status as Death Eaters and leave said organizations, on conditions similar to parole, blah, blah, blah." _

_Mary then skipped to the relevant part, saying carefully, "For all Death Eaters who DO NOT leave said organizations within the time-limit, they will henceforth be classified as traitors and rebels, and punished as such..." Noticing that many of the members were clearly bored, having heard this before and not being too interested in even mild legalese, Mary continued in a much louder tone, "Who can inform me of the punishment for traitors and rebels?"_

_Bored, one of the boys in the group, a Sixth-year Slytherin if Mary recalled correctly, said, "The punishment for traitors and rebels is death, as has been decreed in..."_

_Mary stopped him from continuing by lifting her palm, then said in the same loud tone, "I want to make this clear to all of you: many of you seem to be under the mistaken impression as to _Terranum_'s purpose, thinking that we are to be heroes and valiently fight against the forces of the Dark Lord..." Watching as several nodded, Mary then said, "This is true, but it is not the ENTIRE truth; the true purpose of _Terranum _is to kill Death Eaters because they are breaking the law and acting as traitors and rebels merely by being Death Eaters."_

_Noticing the confusion on the faces of many of the members, Mary then said carefully,"This is a very important distinction; now, I want you all to understand the worst of what that will mean if you join. Your objective might seem as if it isn't in conflict with the hero definition, but you have to understand something: not all the Death Eaters will actually be committing crimes such as Murder, Blackmail, Torture, etc., nonetheless, you will have to kill them anyway if you join."_

_Noticing the dawning unease on the members' faces, Mary quickly continued, feeling disgusted with herself as she did so, "I want to tell you about a woman, Narcissa Malfoy. According to the Ministry of Magic she attended Hogwarts from 1966-1973, obtained six O.W.L.s, three N.E.W.T.s, married Lucius Malfoy in 1974, enjoys playing the piano, attending opera, and has been trying to become pregnant for the past two years. The happy couple even have a nursery picked out for the child all ready..." Mary then paused, before saying flatly, "She is also believed to be a Death Eater, although that hasn't been confirmed yet."_

_Mary then activated the solid illusion, feeling ill as she did so; suddenly, Narcissa Malfoy, or rather, a solid imitation of her, appeared in the room before them, tied up by several lengths of rope and pleading for her life. Using a quick _Silencio _on her, Mary continued, a tear already beginning to trickle down one of her cheeks, "We won't be heroes, we will be monsters, only worth keeping because we are doing a necessary service. Narcissa Malfoy, like all of the Death Eaters, is a real, living human being, and will likely be behaving as such. As part of our service to the Ministry..." Mary undid the _Silencio_, then continued, "we are to kill her anyway, because of the fact that she is a Death Eater..." _

_As the members watched in stunned horror, Mary walked up to the tied-up, wailing form of Narcissa Malfoy, no longer able to stop the tears from running down her cheeks as she listened to the woman's pleas for mercy, "Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything, ANYTHING! I'll even spy on the Death Eaters and Voldemort for you! Just please don't-"_

_Mary then said flatly, with a sob breaking loose, _"Confringo."_ Narcissa's chest exploded within a couple of seconds of the orange jet of light hitting it, and she fell to the ground, dead. Covered with tears and illusionary blood, Mary then said softly, "I will understand if you leave now that you understand exactly what the Ministry is commanding us to do; what we are to do is going to be a truly monstrous thing, and nothing heroic, but it is something that must be done. The Death Eaters will be given their chance to repent, but if they refuse to, this will likely be our primary task. We cannot afford to have pity because of the personal appearence and words of our victims; if this is to be true justice, it must apply equally to all of them. Now, if you don't feel yourselves capable of this, please leave now; do not worry, we will not judge you..."_

_Her audiance watched in stunned silence, then nearly half of them walked out, never to return again..._

_End Flashback:_

'Yes, they will do it indeed...' Mary rushed towards the Shrieking Shack, a lump still in her throat from the memory. 'Merlin, I hate myself, but it has to be done, both for the future, and for justice...'

* * *

Lily slowly tried to sit up, feeling a pain on her forehead that she recognized subconsciously as being from blunt trauma, then she realized that she couldn't as she was rather...tied-up. Realizing that she must be captured, Lily feigned continued unconsciousness as she looked around surrpetiously, noticing that she was tied up rather thoroughly by what appeared to be a couple of _Incarcerous _spells.

Suddenly she heard a voice she recognized and rather dislike say, clearly enjoying himself, "Why, Ms. Evans, it is nice to see you, even if you are a little tied up right now. How are you?"

Growling, Lily said, turning to glare at her captor with one that was worthy of Snape, "What the hell is going on, Mulciber!?"

Mulciber then said lightly, easily, "I heard about how you hurt Severus at the end of last term, you know? I must say, I was quite appalled once I managed to figure out enough of the details: I mean, tricking your supposed 'best friends' into nearly getting eaten by a werewolf. I was especially appalled when I heard of how you weren't even punished, and of how you were digging your sharp, poisonous claws into him all over again, so I decided to cook this up for you."

Lily was about to say something along the lines of "I'm Innocent!" or "Sirius Black did it!", but Mulciber then said, "Frankly, I don't care all THAT much about whether or not you claim that you are innocent, so don't even bother, as I have no intention of listening to you."

He waved his hand around and Lily took a moment to look, and she saw what appeared to be the contents of a normal two bedroom one bathroom apartment, and they were in the kitchen, with Lily bound to a rather rickety wooden chair. Mulciber was standing at the table nearby, and there was a tarp covering something on the it. Unfortunately, while she could see her wand, it was taped to the counter with Spellotape, so i would be more than a little annoying to regain possession of it.

Mulciber then continued with a growl, "Now, I want to make this clear to you: you WILL sign this contract sooner or later, is that understood?"

He handed over a simple sheet of paper; Lily sighed and looked it over once. It was a simple contract, stating that she would refrain from all interactions with Mary and Severus that were not business or school related on pain of death. Lily chuckled, then said, "Might I ask what the alternative is? As there is absolutely no chance that I am signing this garbage, even if you should torture me, blah, blah, blah."

Lily had been captured and tortured once before, with the _Cruciatus_, so she couldn't say that she was particularly afraid of what a schoolboy, who DIDN'T want to be expelled, was capable of dishing out before someone came to rescue her. The sneer on Mulciber's face wasn't particularly impressive either, and he admitted aloud, "Actually, Ms. Evans, I, unlike you, have a code of honor, and I have been prohibited from harming you in any real way."

Lily rolled her eyes, then said, "So...You plan on keeping me here until I agree to sign? That's it?

Mulciber actually laughed, then grinned wickedly at her, "No, no no; you see, I understand something about Gryffindors. You are all self-sacrificing morons you know, and that makes this so much easier..." He then pointed his wand at the tarp and gave it a quick swish and flick, then said calmly, "Sign the contract or I will hex Ms. Percival until it could be almost considered torture, even ignoring the little jinx I already applied to her..."

Lily stopped laughing, then said with a tone of disbelief, "You've gone around the bend, Mulciber, haven't you? You'll get expelled for this for sure."

Mulciber's grin increased until it was almost cutting his face in half, then said calmly, "One cool thing I learned from my girlfriend is how to abuse the system; you see, as long as I don't spend too long, or use certain hexes, then I can merely have it treated as 'sustained hexing-bullying'. Its the same sort of thing that Potter and his buddies got away with all the time. Its just that with this little jinx to increase pain sensitivity that I have on her it will be only just short of the _Cruciatus_; imagine that."

As Sabrina, who was clearly silenced by some hex, pleaded with her eyes, Mulciber said calmly, "Now, what will it be? We've got hours and hours, and nobody but you to hear Ms. Percival scream..."

**Author's Note: **This is NOT a happy chapter; I want to make it clear to all of you that Mary didn't have that little talk because she enjoyed it, but rather because she wanted to make sure that only those who were willing to go as far as Crouch has ordered them to go continue on. It may seem like something cruel, but it is comparable in some ways to dealing with a convicted five-time murderer in the eyes of the law. However sorry the Death Eaters may feel, at that point they are guilty by definition, just like if they were said convicted five-time murderer, and the punishment is clear for traitors and rebels.

As for Mulciber, Sabrina and Lily, it might help you all feel better to know that the starting quote at the beginning of the next chapter is probably going to be: _"Arcturus Mulciber, there are no words to describe how thoroughly, indescribably screwed you are..." _I honestly hope that you didn't enjoy this chapter too much, but this arc is called Trial by Fire for a reason...The massive angst and punishment the characters are facing should be over in a chapter or two though, at least for those who survive...

**Offtopic: **This is a poem that I was gifted by Algor Nox, it refers to this fanfic, so I decided to post it here:

The Laws of Unintended Consequence

_A vengeance war bears our death. We are unfaithful burners, the blackness  
smothers.  
Immature words, a shadow says. A thousand faces charred._

Lovely tentacles ensnaring their hearts, the spiteful fire hastens. Engulfed  
are we in the web woven.

The womyn above standing, in burning hellish glory, proclaims "With broken  
church bells I mock thee, blighted corpse of villain."

Yet to see herself she has, he feels the evil exuding from her breast, the  
empty hole where her hallowed heart should be. "No, my love,' he whispers  
below her hearing. ''Twas us that failed the world. That turned the worlds  
to ash."

Here is another copy of the SSHG/LESS/LESSHG challenge that I have posted. You probably won't see it too many more times:

**_Time-crossed Love Triangle Challenge: A challenge for those who, like me, have always wondered how a love triangle between Severus, Hermione and Lily would turn out. _**

**_Rules: _**

_#1: Fifth-Seventh Year Hermione Granger returns to the Marauders era with no way of getting back(Method is unimportant, but it must be permenent). _

_#2: She arrives AFTER 'Snape's worst memory' and joins Hogwarts as a student. _

_#3: Hermione, for whatever reason, preferably a selfish one, tries to change Severus for the better and ends up falling in love with him, with him 'reasonably' unchanged from his canon personality at that time. _

_#4: After watching how Hermione has fallen for Severus, Lily falls for him for either the same or different reasons. Feeling regretful for her actions in Snape's Worst Memory, Lily forgives Severus for the SWM incident and apologizes to him for her actions outside the Gryffindor Portrait hole with Severus forgiving her. _

_#5: Severus, who has already started to fall in love with Hermione, is torn between the two of them... _

_#6: Final Pairings must include Severus and AT LEAST one of either Lily or Hermione. Also, James can end up with neither of the Female leads. _

_**Optional Bonus Point Rules: **_

#1: Severus, Hermione and Lily all end up together in the end, REALISTICALLY.

_#2: Severus joins neither the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix, yet is critical to the war all the same._

_**Message me if/when you post something based on this challenge, as I would love to read it!**_


	42. Trial by Fire Part Three

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 42**

**Trial by Fire Part Three**

_Arcturus Mulciber, there are no words to describe how thoroughly, indescribably screwed you are..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

_**Saturday October 17th, 1975**_

Mary stared frozen in horror at the scene before her in disbelief; Justin Avery was calmly pulling his knickers up as he climbed off of Celeste, whose skirt was pulled up with her knickers down. Even if she could have entertained the slightest imagining that it was consensual, that possibly was firmly quashed by the fact that he had tied her up so tightly and Mary could see tears running down her cheeks. Avery then said lazily as he started to reclotheher, "Now wasn't that nice? At least a pathetic blood-traitor got to have someone worth having for once, rather than having to settle for Mudbloods and Muggles...

As Mary's horror turned rapidly into a mounting fury, Avery continued, "Of course, if you don't start working to keep me, I might get bored and who knows? I might have to deprive you of the chance to have me again, not that you will remember this time obviously. Still" He mused aloud, "If you could show me that you might not try to 'punish' me for my generosity, I might reconsider the _Obliviate_, you know?"

At that last remark, mocking Celeste as if she should want to be raped by the disgusting wanker, Mary lost it, her anger so great that she wouldn't have been surprised if she set the ground ablaze with her rage. She then shouted, "You PATHETIC, PITIFUL, excuse for a SODDING piece of flesh! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS!? _EXPELLIARMUS!_"

Avery was smart, and easily blocked the disarming charm, however he hadn't seen how Mary had been changing the way she did battle; after the incident with the werewolves, as part of her leadership of _Terranum_, Mary had been forced to read all kinds of books on Aurorcombat tactics for the purpose of teaching her 'students'. In the process, Mary had realized that the way that she fought needed a redo; she had always struggled with her accuracy because of her tendency to get angry when she was in a fight. That meant that her accuracy typically plumeted, although her focus was still superb.

After reading up a bit, Mary realized that she had been trying to 'go against the grain' so to speak. Now, instead of focusing on accuracy with her spells, she channeled her fury into firing a lot of blasts that weren't quite as accurate, much like a Muggle Gatling gun. What this meant for Avery is that while he had blocked her disarming charm and her Stunner, he hadn't been ready for her _Depulso_. 'Take that, Avery!'

After Avery went flying, before tumbling down the hill, Mary shouted, "Give it up, Avery! Either surrender now, or I'll start REALLY hexing you! I am in no mood for your pathetic- WOAH!"

Clearly not ready to give up, Avery had countered with what appeared to be one of his family's personal spells, considering Mary had never heard of it before; it shot three jets of fire that seemed to be homing in on her to some extent. Rather than trying anything fancy, Mary simply countered with an _Aguamenti_, causing him to smirk as he continued his attack with a lightning fast _Reducto_, at least until the water hit him. 'I do hope that he doesn't mind Lily's version of that spell...Boiling water is quite an improvement if I do say so myself; thanks for that one, Lily...'

As steam obscured the shrieking rapist from sight, Mary frowned. 'Where is the rest of _Terra..._oh of course; they wouldn't be able to see the red wings from the village proper...' Mary then smiled wickedly, 'I guess that I will have to deal with Avery...Personally.' Growing tired of the steam hiding her target, Mary fired a simple _Depulso _to clear the air of steam. Spying Avery trying to run inside the shack, Mary shouted,

"No running! You pathetic COWARD!"

Avery glanced back for a moment, and Mary saw the look of fright on his face as he saw her wand pointed at him, or so he thought. Mary then aimed a veritable barrage of _Incendio_'s at the Shrieking Shack, blocking Avery's escape with a wall of fire. Taking advantage of his shock at his escape being cut off, Mary quickly _Incarcerous_'ed the foul beast, before slamming him with about seven Stunners for good measure.

'Now to deal with the victim; Avery can rot in prison later...' She had strongly considered killing him, but rape wasn't a crime punishable by death, and Mary wanted to keep on the Ministry's good side, for now at least. 'Hell is far too good for scum like him...'

* * *

"GYA...YAAAAH! AH!"

Arcturus smiled as he listened to the pained screams and shrieks of Sabrina; it had been far too long since he had been able to have a bit of fun, and this bit of fun was for the sake of his friend, so he couldn't help but enjoy himself. Normally he wouldn't have bothered with his pain-sensitivity jinx, but today was an exception, as he wanted to make sure that Sabrina's suffering was comparable to the fires of Hell itself. 'Silly Gryffindors, always loyal to their own, but if it is someone from Slytherin, they will happily let them suffer. Sooner or later, Lily will crack and give in, and Severus will no longer be shackled to this lying tart...'

Arcturus grinned wolfishly as one of his conjured cats clawed Sabrina in the right eye, causing her to shriek even more, then he quickly healed her, as he didn't want her to suffer any permanent damage, only imense levels of pain. As part of his work, he had transfigured no less than three cats, then slathered fish paste all over Sabrina's nude body. 'Hehe! Its ironic how she is being attacked by a cat, when she is supposedly a 'lion'!'

He suspected that he was enjoying Sabrina's pain far more than he should, but it was in his nature to enjoy the pain and suffering of others. Besides, it was for a good cause: in spite of all Mary had been planning to do, Arcturus had seen Lily working herself back into his friend's life again. He had clearly been hurt more than Arcturus had ever seen him before, and it was all thanks to Severus' dear, sweet Lily Evans. Well, Arcturus wasn't going to let her get away with it; he would break Miss Evans in half like a wishbone, and make sure that she would never hurt his friend again.

He glanced back at Lily, who looked positively sickened as she watched, already having lost her lunch in the first twenty minutes; Arcturus had used Severus' _Langlock _on her a while ago, simply to shut her up, as she had been trying to pretend innocence. Sabrina had long ago passed the point where she would be incapable of speech, only capable of shrieking in agony. Sighing for a moment as he decided to try working over Lily again, Arcturus dispelled the transfigurations, returning them to their natural state as ants, then said calmly, "You know, Lily, its really all your fault that this is happening to your friend. If you weren't being so stubborn, we could all go home happy right about now, but noooo, YOU want to keep watching her suffer, DON'T YOU!?"

Lily couldn't say anything, but Sabrina, much to Arcturus' delight, started pleading, stuttering periodically from the shocks of pain still winding their way through her system, "Lily! If you have the slightest bone of kindness in your body, PLEASE AGREE TO HIS DEMANDS! Its been n-nearly TWO HOURS! I have been in more p-pain than I would expect to get from having FIFTY children! JUST GIVE IN!" Her face was streaked with tears as she then broke down sobbing, saying, "P-please, I'm b-begging you!"

Lily looked broken, but shook her head with what appeared to be the greatest regret imaginable; Arcturus then sighed and was about to turn back, when he noticed something: the Spellotape that had been on Lily's wand had almost completely peeled off. He made to push it back down, pinning the wand back down again, but it was too late, for Lily had already done a wandless Summoning charm. 'This could be bad...'

Arcturus turned back toward her and gulped as she furiously undid her bonds, then undid the _Langlock _on her throat. He would have tried to redo her bonds and knock her out again, but he knew quite certainly that she had him completely outmatched, so he could only stand there while she stood there looking at him like an angel of wrath about to rain her judgement down upon him. Arcturus then said nervously, "So...Think that we could forget this had ever happened?"

Lily coldly said, "No."

He backed away slowly as Lily, eyes flashing with an unspeakable rage, walked towards him, wand pointed at his chest. 'I was afraid of that...'

* * *

Bartemius Crouch sat down in his chair in his office at the Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, for what he suspected would be the last time; tomorrow, he would be sitting in the office of the Minister of Magic, like he had been aiming to do for the last twelve years. However, today was not a day to celebrate, for he had plans to make in order to secure his position and prepare the Wizarding World to accept his positions.

'It is extremely unlikely that, even with the near-unilateral power I will have to instate the Death Eater Suppression Act, that I will be able to keep it in effect for very long unless things change, as the wealthy purebloods that make up the majority of the Death Eaters will be doing their utmost to remove it before it is declared a crime merely to be a Death Eater. They will certainly be helped by those who remember the war against Grindelwald, and probably don't want to repeat it, people like Dumbledore, who waited until it was nearly too late to fight against him...'

Bartemius growled as he remembered how, in spite of his power, Dumbledore had tried to talk piece with Grindelwald until he had nearly annihilated Soviet Selwyn's forces, and almost consumed Britain in his growing empire. Like their Muggle counterparts at the time, rather than fight Grindelwald when he was weak, they had waited to fight until he was so strong that, if it weren't for Dumbledore's lucky victory, Grindelwald would have won. 'I will not make Dumbledore's mistake! Voldemort wants us to wait until he is ready to wage war on us; I have no intention of allowing him that time!'

And indeed Bartemius wouldn't; he had been closely working with Mary Macdonald and Severus Snape in preperation of his trump card for war with Voldemort: _Terranum _and its parent organization _Aduro Terranum_, which was made up of _Terranum _and its sister organizations in the Magic schools throughout Great Britain and its allies.

For all Voldemort's supposed brilliance and his powerful allies, the Death Eaters had been constructed with a flaw: they were designed to fight a guerilla war with methods of terror against a stodgy, old Ministry of Magic. In contrast, _Aduro Terranum _was constructed with fighting the Death Eaters in mind; unlike Aurors, they were trained not to focus on detective work and investigation, possibly fighting a single Dark wizard at the end of it, but with a different style of battle in mind.

Rather than expecting an investigation, they would be trained to fight the Death Eaters wherever they appeared, armed to the teeth with the best equipment that the Ministry could give them, and prepared to crush them, rather than merely hold them off while protecting the populace. Bartemius had fought alongside Selwyn's armies during their savage battles with Grindelwald, and he had learned something important: if one was to wage war upon an a Dark wizard and his followers, it was far better to allow them to kill a few and take out the enemy in the process than bleed one's resources dry trying to protect everyone.

'Voldemort may choose that there will be a war, but I, Bartemius Crouch, will be choosing the Battlefield...' He then turned to analyze the last report he had received from Mary, dated a week ago, telling him that she had seen signs that Dumbledore was in the process of building a private army, named the 'Order of the Phoenix' from what she and Severus had heard. He remembered the last words of the report and pursed his lips, thinking carefully...

_...Severus says, and I agree with him, that, should it prove necessary, and we certainly hope that it will not be, _Terranum _will be prepared to execute either Burning Aegis or Daemonrime by this time next year, based on our training methods in comparison to either of our potential adversaries, and succeed._

In war, the worst case scenarios always had to be prepared for...

* * *

It was all Lily could do to keep from killing Mulciber where he stood; he certainly deserved a great deal of punishment, and she was prepared to give it to him, but she wanted to make him BEG before she killed him. She had thought that perhaps he had changed, but clearly he was still the same sadistic man who had tortured an entire family of one of the Aurors, solely to find out what she had been trying to do in the first Avery case. It would be better if he were dead, rather than get the chance to do that again...

Lily was about to fire one of her rather long list of lethal hexes when Mulciber, rather than trying to run anymore, squared his jaw and stood, clearly afraid, but unwilling to flee, then said, hatred in his voice, "Very well then, Lily. Do whatever you did that made Severus suffer like that; I don't care! Do your worst!"

Lily then looked him in the eyes, and she understood something, that both sickened her and saddened her: apparently Mulciber had been trying to persuade her to give up on Severus for his own safety, much like Mary had been. His methods had probably been chosen because, like the man Lily had remembered, he had always chosen the most effective method for wringing the information out of his chosen victims, and he knew that Lily would go out of her way to protect those she was close to.

However, like she remembered of the first time that Mulciber was caught, he refused to try to deny his punishment, unlike many of his fellow Death Eaters, and this also reminded her of that. Even though he was a very evil man, he had always believed that honor was the most important thing, and, unlike the Marauders, even though he had bullied more than a few people, he had never sought to deny the justice which was due him when he was caught.

Mulciber then said angrily, laughing at her mockingly as he did so, "Go ahead! I'll make sure you regret it in the end, but have your fun! Show the world what a monster you truly are!"

Nonetheless, even though she understood him a little bit more, she had no intention of showing the slightest bit of mercy to a man who had taken great joy in torturing a teenage girl merely for the sake of protecting his friend from someone; there were limits to how far one should go, and he had completely ignored them.

After quickly untying and healing Sabrina, Lily proceeded to unleash every painful hex and jinx she could think of upon the much deserving monster. About a half-hour later, remembering Sabrina was still too weak for travel, and too tired to stay awake it appeared, Lily returned to the kitchen from the living room she had been blasting Mulciber inside, leaving a man who seemed more like a piece of burnt toast than a human being in her wake. Perhaps she should have focused on returning Sabrina to Hogwarts sooner, but Lily had wanted to have a bit more time making sure Mulciber had regretted what he had done first, trying to make sure that he regretted causing Sabrina's getting hurt half as much as Lily did...

* * *

"And then he pushed me down and started removing my..."

"Shh, shh, it will all be OK, don't worry, Celeste. Let's try talking about something else."

"Yes it will be; you can survive this Miss Greengrass." Severus said, trying to help, but not really knowing how, a typical flaw when dealing with a rape victim, especially one that someone knows.

Clearly faking that she was better, as she seemed to be ready to burst into tears any minute, Celeste then said in a voice that would have been called 'flirty' if it hadn't been so bitter from today's events, "Wouldn't you prefer to call me Cel-este, Sev-er-us?"

In a chilly tone of voice, Mary then said, "On second thought, maybe we should focus more on the incident again, Celeste..."

Severus rolled his eyes as Mary bristled when Celeste, in spite of what had happened to her, apparently tried to pretend flirting with him. Even though he wasn't particularly interested in her, he had to admit that he was quite impressed at how she was doing so far, considering how his mother had reacted when it had...'Best not to go there. At least she hasn't blamed herself like...nevermind. Good thing she still has her sense of humor...'

Nonetheless, he tried to help her to the best of his ability, working with Mary to keep her comfortable while she told the Aurors what had happened, which Celeste did quite admirably, then, in a somewhat more embarrassing part, helping Mary get her 'situated' while the healer the Auror called in did a few tests on the...female parts, which appeared to be quite painful considering how Celeste had screamed like a banshee as it had happened and gripped his hand so hard that HE needed a healing spell cast upon him.

Severus had never cared all that much for Celeste, not that he hated her or anything, but rather that she wasn't one of his friends. Nonetheless, there was no way that he would let her suffer from what his own ex-friend had done, not if he could help it; he had seen another get raped before, and she had gone 'untreated' and had refused to admit it, out of a sense of having deserved it. Severus would not let Celeste end up that way, whether they were friends or not...

On the bright side, at least he had gotten one thing about her cleared up during this forsaken mess. It had taken quite a bit of time, but Severus had managed to explain to the girl that he wasn't interested in her in that way; however, now she seemed to be trying something even more insidious and wicked, trying to become his friend, a significant danger in his mind because he happened to remember himself going up to a certain red-head, 'just for the sake of becoming friends'. Severus thought determinedly to himself as the two girls continued talking, 'Oh no she won't! I know exactly how that little song goes! Just like Mary and Lil-' Severus cut himself off there, not wanting to remind himself of his other main worry.

It was already well after seven in the evening, and Severus hadn't seen hide nor hair of Lily since the trio had split up. That, plus Lucius' little slip during their meeting, AND Celeste's rape was causing him to become extremely impatient, although he suspected that he was still helping slightly, which was the only reason he hadn't dashed off like a Gryffindor, perhaps pulling a Potter, in trying to find her.

'Calm yourself, Severus. It is EXTREMELY unlikely that Lily would be in as dire a strait as Celeste is right now, and there is no point rushing off...' Severus tried to tell himself, reminding himself of the odds that Lily would be in any real danger, although he looked around the Hogwarts Hospital Wing every five minutes, hoping that he might see her coming to check up on Celeste...

Severus' eyes suddenly widened as, to his surprise, he did see Lily, who was walking stiffly into the Hospital Wing, seeming on the verge of tears, Sabrina and...some strange half-man half-blob mix following her. She then said stutteringly, breaking down as Severus and Mary rushed over to her, "Its a-all my fault, Sev! Why Sabrina!?" She then shrieked, "JUST TELL ME WHY THIS HAPPENED TO HER!"

Severus, not knowing what to do, hugged Lily as she dropped to her knees, Mary, having seen that Lily was in his arms, ran over to check on Sabrina, clearly terrified of what must have happened to her friend. Watching as his oldest friend clutched him to herself, burying her face in his chest as she started bawling, Severus could only say her name, "Lily..."

* * *

In another place, beyond space and time, a being, hidden by his light as it glowed from his spherical form, said to himself, "So she has made her choice...It is a pity that she will have to sacrifice so much because of it..."

**Author's Note: **In a word to describe Celeste, Lily, and Sabrina's situations, OUCH. Mulciber went a bit off the deep end in trying to protect his friend, much like Mary had threatened to do so some time ago, Avery has shown himself as being a true monster, and our favorite trio has had to bear the pain of all of this. Unfortunately, Lily's pain has only begun...

Here is another copy of the SSHG/LESS/LESSHG challenge that I have posted. You probably won't see it too many more times:

**_Time-crossed Love Triangle Challenge: A challenge for those who, like me, have always wondered how a love triangle between Severus, Hermione and Lily would turn out. _**

**_Rules: _**

_#1: Fifth-Seventh Year Hermione Granger returns to the Marauders era with no way of getting back(Method is unimportant, but it must be permenent). _

_#2: She arrives AFTER 'Snape's worst memory' and joins Hogwarts as a student. _

_#3: Hermione, for whatever reason, preferably a selfish one, tries to change Severus for the better and ends up falling in love with him, with him 'reasonably' unchanged from his canon personality at that time. _

_#4: After watching how Hermione has fallen for Severus, Lily falls for him for either the same or different reasons. Feeling regretful for her actions in Snape's Worst Memory, Lily forgives Severus for the SWM incident and apologizes to him for her actions outside the Gryffindor Portrait hole with Severus forgiving her. _

_#5: Severus, who has already started to fall in love with Hermione, is torn between the two of them... _

_#6: Final Pairings must include Severus and AT LEAST one of either Lily or Hermione. Also, James can end up with neither of the Female leads. _

_**Optional Bonus Point Rules: **_

#1: Severus, Hermione and Lily all end up together in the end, REALISTICALLY.

_#2: Severus joins neither the Death Eaters or the Order of the Phoenix, yet is critical to the war all the same._

_**Message me if/when you post something based on this challenge, as I would love to read it!**_


	43. Better than Goodness

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 43**

**Better than Goodness**

_What use is it to be on a pedastal if no-one else wants to climb up there?_

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

_**Saturday October 17th, 1975**_

Lily watched as Mary kept herself busy between Celeste and Sabrina, trying to make sure that they were comfortable as they slowly slipped into slumber; meanwhile, Severus sat beside Lily, holding her hand and watching her as she laid in bed in the Hospital Wing. Ironically, as good as Severus usually was at understanding her, making her happy and able to enjoy life, he truly sucked at comforting people from their personal tragedies. He would periodically start to say something, stop, mumble a bit, then lapse into silence again.

And yet, Lily didn't mind very much, as she understood that it wasn't because he didn't care and didn't want to comfort her, but rather because he didn't know how; in his life, he had always been forced to bury every scrap of pain deep inside him, pretending it didn't hurt when really it did. In spite of this, he always knew when she was in pain and did his absolute best to help her.

While she had told him, Mary and Madam Pomfrey about what Mulciber had made her do, Severus had held her, stroking her back as she started bawling about how it had been all her fault, and if she had been smarter, better in some way, she would have been able to protect Sabrina, and how she had let her friend get tortured for nearly two hours to keep her friendships with Mary and Severus.

Severus had been shocked at what she said that Mulciber had done, but then he had bitten his lip and nodded, a betrayed and lost expression visible in his eyes. Meanwhile, Mary had glared at her angrily, before going over to help her other best female friend, while Pomfrey had looked at Lily with an expression that Lily had never seen on her face before, that of absolute disgust.

'I guess that, for Severus, it must have been just like it had been for me when I found out that James had been lying to be ever since we started going out about his stopping bullying Severus. I don't think that Severus thought that Mulciber would ever do something like this. If it wasn't for how much it cost and hurt, I might even have been happy because of how it would guarentee that he would never even remotely consider the Death Eaters after that, but it must have been horrible for Sev to have one of his oldest friends betray him like that, hurting one of his two best friends...'

Lily was suddenly broken from her musings by Severus saying quietly, "Don't blame yourself, Lily, I would have done the exact thing..."

Lily looked back at Severus in confusion for a moment, then said in an angry whisper, "Sev, that's WHY I blame myself, because I was willing to sit there and let one of my friends get punished for my own selfish reasons; do you have any idea of how ashamed of myself I am? How guilty I feel? Do you!? What I did was evil and monstrous, and I deserve to be in the same pain that she is in, maybe ten times that pain, because of what I did! I'm a monster!"

Severus looked around for a moment, obviously making sure that Mary was away, still busy hovering over her two charges, then he said softly, "Lily, I know that it was an awful thing to do, and I am not saying that it wasn't evil, nor that you shouldn't feel guilty for it, but, if I had been in your shoes, and Black had made me choose between you and Mary, and say Selene Malfoy, I know that I would have done the exact same thing..." Lily shook her head, tears starting up again as the screams of Sabrina floated inside her head, her pleadings for help which Lily felt she couldn't give, and Severus trailed off....

He seemed to be struggling for a moment, then he said quietly, "Mulciber made you choose between two very evil options, and you chose Mary and I; you tried to help Sabrina as best you could, but the circumstances didn't allow you. It was wicked, callous, and selfish what you did, but there are some things that are just too important for people to give up, evil as the costs for them are are..." He didn't start crying, but Lily could see a tear in his right eye as he continued in a fierce whisper, "You may be a monster, but if you think that that means that I will give you up you are bloody mistaken! Even if you are as evil as you think you are, I'm not going to give up on you anywhere near that easily!"

Lily knew that she didn't deserve his mercy or forgiveness, nor anyone's for that matter, but she was unable to stop herself from pulling Severus beside her on the bed and clutching him fiercely, kissing him on the lips for only a few seconds, but so hard that she was sure that just those few seconds would bruise her lips more than an hour's kissing with James ever did. Lily then said, dropping her face to his chest, in a quiet voice that, muffled by his shirt and robes, "I love you, Sev..."

Even though she could tell that he was shocked by her sudden amorousness, she smiled slightly because, even though Severus hadn't kissed her back, at least not then, he didn't even attempt to let go of her, not even one bit...

* * *

As Mary watched Lily kiss Severus, she felt a surge of jealousy towards her female best friend; it wasn't because of the fact that Lily could kiss Severus, but rather that Mary couldn't. Mary hated how, even though she loved Severus and he her, she couldn't do any more with him than what could be construed as flirting between friends, at least not until _Terranum _had been established to level needed that she could protect him indefinitely, with the Knights avoiding conflict rather than daring to attack him.

It was ironic, even though Mary was absolutely sure by now that Lily had had nothing to do with the events of last term, Sabrina had been forced to suffer for what Lily didn't do. She was angry that Sabrina had needed to suffer, but Mary couldn't blame Lily too much, as, although it shamed her to admit it, ever since Sabrina had abandoned her for trying to avenge her Lily had become a more important person than her in Mary's mind. In all honesty, as mad as Mary was that Sabrina had needed to suffer, she much preferred it to what would have happened if Lily had accepted Mulciber's terms...

'Mulciber...' Now HE deserved Mary's anger, and she fully intended to make him suffer as he had made Sabrina and Lily, who Mary knew was suffering mentally, had suffered. Mary could hardly wait until he had left the Hospital Wing so that she could start the process of returning him there...

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey walked up to her and Severus and said, in a voice just loud enough for both of them to hear without risking the rest of her patients, "Visiting hours were over a while ago. It's time for the two of you to get to bed."

Both of them nodded and started to walk away and down to the dungeons, hands almost together but not quite touching. They walked in silence for a few minutes, then Severus said quietly, "I think that it's time to let Lily know about" He looked around, "it."

Mary understanding that Severus meant the secrets of _Terranum _by what he was saying, nodded, saying, "Yeah, and I think that it's past time she told us about what's going on with her and Sirius. I threatened to put his friends in the Hospital Wing today and he still wouldn't talk... She noticed that Severus was rather surprised and a little disappointed, then said in a huff, "Don't look at me like that! It was only a bluff, so relax."

Severus sighed, then said apprehensively, "Be careful about those bluffs; if he doesn't believe the bluff it won't work, and we will lose all the respect and fear from him that we have gained over the course of the last year."

Mary rolled her eyes, then nodded, saying, "Yes, Daaad."

Severus smirked, then said with a chuckle, "That would bother me, but I've met your dad...In reality, that was probably more of a compliment than an insult."

Mary laughed and gave him a swat on the arm, before they both lapsed into silence, then Severus said quietly, "Besides, we have bigger problems, Malfoy..."

Frowning, Mary whispered, "Do you think he is suspicious?"

Severus glared at the nearby wall as if it had personally offended him, then said bitterly, "No, he tried to get me to stay away from you for my own good again; I'm up to my neck in this and it's obvious, so if he was suspicious, I probably would have been leaving that restuarant in pieces. I do think that it's a good thing we betrayed him first though; based on the fact that he said that I should be only 'fraternizing with future Death Eaters', he had no intentions of actually making us members of Voldemort's army..."

Mary's frown deepened, then she whispered, "What do you think he plans to do?"

Severus then said grimly, "Kill all of _Terranum_, there is no other reason he would have a problem with me being friends with its members. At least, none that I can think of; why else would he have us gather them all together? If he had simply planned on not letting them join, then he would have created a fair-sized army who could fight against the Death Eaters..."

Mary nodded, agreeing with his logic and feeling more than a little depressed after all that had happened that night, then the two continued walking in silence until they made it to their respective rooms, where Mary found something that brightened up her day considerably: using the Slytherin special tunnel that made it possible for them to receive mail after dark, an owl from Crouch had arrived, bearing a simple message:

_Dear Ms. Macdonald;_

_On account of your bravery tonight and your demonstrated level-headedness and courage, it has been decided to give you what you requested: the honorary position of 'Auror', with all of the rights and privileges it implies._

_In addition, command of _Aduro Terranum _and permission to execute Daemonrime and Burning Aegis have both been placed in your capable hands. Remember to use the utmost discretion in the execution of them, and only do so when it is deemed absolutely necessary, as we have discussed._

_Sincerely,_

_Minister of Magic,  
__Bartemius Crouch_

Mary could barely stop herself from laughing in glee, and she succumbed to the temptation to giggle as she rushed over to the Boy's Dormitory to tell Severus, meanwhile chanting mentally, 'I'm free, I'm free! I'm FREE! I'M FREE!'

Dumbledore had made one mistake in the wording of the punishment clause of the contract that prohibited her and Severus from telling anyone about what had happened at the end of term or any of the things they had seen during it: he had written it as _"If you should break this contract, I will expel you and you will henceforth be unable to become students of Hogwarts again."_

It wasn't a bad contract per se, but their was a loophole: it was only valid if DUMBLEDORE had the authority to punish her and Severus and, as of two minutes ago, he didn't...

* * *

Lily was supposed to be sleeping, but she was too busy being shocked by what Severus had said and done to pay attention to the cries for rest from her body. 'Severus...didn't care that I was despicable and evil...he didn't care that I was disgusting and vile. He only cared that I was his friend, and in pain, not even remotely considering leaving me and forgetting about me. He even let me kiss him, and didn't push me away after what I had done...'

She was shocked because she knew, with complete and utter certainty, that if she had done such a thing in her original time-line, her original self would have given up on her without a second thought for being so callous and evil. She had given up on Severus for far less after all, only a word and the fact that he was part of a gang of Slytherins that wanted to join Voldemort. While many of those gang-members had been tormenting her Muggleborn friends, the worst that Severus had ever done was call them names, truly insulting names mind you, but only names nonetheless.

'I hated how he was so selfish, only caring about me and trying to protect me because we were friends, like he, Mulciber and Avery were friends, rather than because it was the right thing to do; he always trusted me, even when the evidence was against me, and he didn't care when I had accidentally put Alexandra in the hospital wing after she had insulted me in fourth year, and I hated that he did it because I felt that he SHOULDN'T have trusted me, and he SHOULD have cared about what I had done.'

She then looked up at the ceiling, thinking to herself, 'I wanted him to be objective, moral and 'good', like the rest of my friends, but he was subjective when it came to his friends, amoral and 'bad', and he wouldn't change, so I gave up on him. It's ironic, he still is subjective when it comes to his friends and amoral, although I wouldn't say bad, yet I now care about him all the more because of it. I know that he didn't try to protect my family in the original time-line because it was the right thing to do, but only because it meant that he was protecting me, and yet I no longer mind.'

It had taken her a while, but Lily finally realized how understanding Severus had changed her, and not in a bad way: in this time-line, although Severus generally did the right thing because it was the right thing when there was little cost, he still only stuck his neck out for the people he cared about, yet was willing to risk his life for them. The thing that had bugged her the most, the fact that he didn't help his friends because it was the right thing to do, but rather did the right thing because it helped his friends, she no longer had a problem with.

'Does it really matter why someone does the right thing? I mean, I know that many people only fought the Death Eaters because they were threatening to exterminate their friends and/or family, but does it make their sacrifices any less noble or courageous because they weren't doing it to be noble?'

In her youth, Lily had taken pride in how, in spite of the fact that she cared deeply about her friends, she had had the capability to be moral and objective about them nonetheless; even though she cared about them, she always trusted the evidence of a situation first, and she was willing to cut them loose if they were evil and 'dragging her down into wickedness with them'.

'Well, look where that got me; I gave up my best friend and the man I now love above all others, because I felt that he was 'bad', I gave up the friendship of Mary, who is as important as a sister to me, because her vindictiveness was too extreme for my tastes, I gave up on Petunia, because I didn't think it was worth the effort to try and stay close because of her jealousy and prejudice, and I ended up losing my life, because I knew that Remus had more to gain than Peter by betraying us. I had a good life, mind you, but I lost so much more than I gained in it...'

After ending up regretting much of her old life, Lily finally understood completely something that Severus and Mary, although not in the right way, had learned long ago: although morality, goodness and objectivity were good things to have, there were things more important than them, things like friendship, trust and love.

Neither Severus nor Mary would probably end up being sterling examples of goodness and morality, like Dumbledore for example, but they were better friends than Lily could have ever imagined. They might do Dark deeds, and might never risk their neck to do 'the right thing', but they would stay loyal to her through thick and thin, they would trust her with all their hearts, and they would protect her with all their strength, solely because she was their friend. 'It's ironic; the same things that make Mary and Severus some of the most amoral people I have ever met also make them the two best friends that I could ever ask for.'

Lily then said aloud, chuckling, "Heck, even James, Sirius and Remus knew how important friendship was! James would stay loyal to his friends whatever happened, no matter what they did or how evil they were..."

Suddenly, she heard a barking laugh coming from Mulciber, who had apparently awakened, and he said, laughing still, "Potter wouldn't know loyalty to friendship above good and evil if it bit him on the backside! You see, he..."

Within five minute, Lily was sickened as, after hearing Mulciber's tale, she wondered if James had known that truth either...

* * *

**_The Next Day Sunday October 18th, 1975_**

As he and James waited outside the Hospital Wing for it to be open to visitors, Sirius wondered when exactly he had become a coward, afraid to take his deserved punishment. It had to have been before the first time that he had used Lupin to nearly kill Snape, as he had done that to keep him from ratting them out to the Ministry. Perhaps it had been midway through his first year, when he and James had gotten used to the idea that neither the Professors nor the Prefects would do anything to punish them when they targetted Snape, as long as it was out of their sight.

It hadn't seemed like a big deal at first, just saving himself and the rest of the Marauders some time in detention, or preventing the loss of a few Gryffindor house points. Remus had complained periodically that they were being too cruel to the boy, but he hadn't done anything to stop them, not really. All too soon though, Sirius had somehow allowed himself to become a person who would seriously question whether it was worth his friends and girlfriend spending significant amounts of time in the Hospital Wing thanks to Macdonald rather than taking the punishment for the Attempted Murder he had committed.

Sirius knew that Macdonald would do it too, and without even batting an eyelash; he had seen how, last year, Macdonald had absolutely no problems suffering or allowing the suffering of others if it allowed her to achieve her goals, considering how she had humiliated all of Gryffindor to score points with her new house. One of the things that had first attracted him to her was her sheer determination and willingness to do anything after all. Still, he could try to keep quiet an...

He halted his train of thought, ashamed of where it had started taking him. Sirius then realized something, it was time for him to give up the ghost, so to speak, and confess, 'This has gone on long enough! I'm done running from my mistakes; if Macdonald wants to kill me, then so be it! I'll burn before I let her hurt my friends for my sake!'

Gritting his teeth, Sirius decided that the next time that he got the chance to talk alone with Mary, he would tell her, as James had reccomended when Sirius spilled the beans about the plan, saying, _"Padfoot, I understand where you're coming from, and I know that you don't want to have to humiliate yourself considering that it was only Snape and Macdonald, but it has been nearly what? Four months since the incident? Besides, maybe they will go lighter on you if they find out from your lips rather than Lily's...'_

Suddenly, as if called by thoughts of them, Macdonald and Snape rushed up to the door to the Hospital Wing, which Madam Pomfrey opened no less than a few seconds later, allowing them in. Sirius swore to himself that he would tell Macdonald after they were finished dealing with Sabrina...

* * *

As Mary and Lily talked together, Severus decided to sit next to Celeste until she woke up; he suspected that Mary would need some time to work things out with Lily considering that, unlike him, Sabrina and Mary were actually pretty close friends. Also, he was unsure of how to deal with Lily after what she had said to him last night, and wanted to think things over, perhaps talk them over with Mary first, before he tried to deal with her. Besides, he honestly couldn't help himself from blushing whenever he thought about that kiss he and Lily had shared.

Besides, he also wanted to see if Celeste was OK; he felt responsible for what had happened to her because of Avery as he suspected that part of the reason that Avery had done this to her had been because Severus had gotten in the way of his teasing her on the train, so Avery had hurt her in order to hurt him.

He then heard her say sleepily, "It's good to see you again, Severus."

Severus, a small lump in his throat, then said, "Likewise. Are you feeling better?"

Celeste stretched her arms, arching her back, and giving Severus a very nice eyeful of her breasts, considering that she had elected to wear a set of pajamas to bed rather than a hospital gown, and they were a bit loose at the neckline. Apparently noticing his looking at her, Celeste chuckled, then said "My face is up here, last I checked, or do I have something on my chest."; she then patted said 'chest', causing Severus to color and turn his head away in embarrassment.

Severus then thought to himself wistfully for a moment, 'It really is too bad that she isn't my type; she may just be the most physically attractive woman I ever laid eyes on...bright blue eyes, long blond hair, and tits to die for...' Severus then sighed, before shrugging; even though Celeste was beautiful, Severus knew that it would never work out, as she just couldn't keep up with him when he was talking, so having a conversation would quickly prove impossible. Still, he had to admit that she was nice to look at...

Suddenly remembering that he was here for reasons other than his hormones, Severus calmly turned back to her and said smoothly, "By the way, I ran into Professor Slughorn on the way here, and he told me to tell you that you're free of homework for the next week, so you can spend some extra time recovering..."

Celeste then grinned, before saying, "That's good! I was getting worried that he would want me to do my practical on a Comblustion Concoction today."

Severus sighed, before saying with a tone of exasperation he had started using ever since he started volunteering to help Mary with practical instructions in the _Terranum _meetings, "That's ComBUSTion Concoction, not ComBLUStion Concoction, Celeste."

Celeste then said coyly, "Are you sure that it's the potion you are thinking and not my bust?"

Severus flushed red again, and was about to start stammering, but he was luckily saved from answering by Mary calling out, "Hey, Sev! Our spot, now!"

Severus turned, and saw a look in both of the girl's eyes that told him that, whatever it was, it was very important, so he sighed and said, "Sorry Celeste, but I have to go. I'll see you again in a bit, alright?"

She grinned at him and said, "Sure...Sev! See you later!"

Normally Severus would have taken her to task about using his very personal nickname without his permission, but, after the events of last night, he just didn't have the heart, so he walked out, but not before pausing when he noticed out of the corner of his eye how Celeste's smile broke down as soon as she thought he had left the room. Severus made a note to himself to see her as soon as he finished with Lily and Mary; after all, he supposed that he owed her. Besides, Mulciber was in the same room and he and Mulciber HAD to have a chat as soon as possible...

Lily then grabbed him by the shoulder, and whispered in his ear, "I need to talk to you guys, its about what happened at the end of term; I figured out who did it."

Severus whirled and immediately followed her and Mary, who was practically running, as this was a miracle that neither of them had even dreamed of. However, he couldn't help but wonder as he ran as well, not about what Lily was about to tell them, but about that burning glares that Sabrina, James and Sirius had fixed Lily with as the trio had left...

**Author's Note: **Please excuse me while I cover my ears at the anticipated screams of Severus/Lily fangirls at their happiness at that pairing's first real kiss together=).

Ten seconds later.

Although I am deafened, I do hope that you enjoyed this chapter; the next couple will be skipping things forward a fair bit of time however, as a crucial turning point has just passed...

Read and review=).


	44. Raging Against Injustice

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 44**

**Raging Against Injustice**

_For him I shall settle for nothing less than Azkaban!_

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

_**Sunday October 18th, 1975**_

As Lily told Severus and Mary about her investigation into the events at the end of last term and how she had found the person she believed to be the culprit, as well as what she had told Dumbledore and his response, she reflected on what Mulciber had told her, about how James had cast him aside like garbage when he heard that Mulciber had entered Slytherin, in spite of the fact that they had been friends for three years prior to attending Hogwarts. In James' opinion, to be Slytherin was a synonym of 'to be evil', and so he had chucked Mulciber aside immediately, preferring to make 'real friends' with Gryffindors.

Lily had at first been shocked, but then it had seemed all too understandable, especially given how she hadn't failed to notice that not a single one of the Marauders, even Remus, had had a true Slytherin friend in either time-line, Mary not counting because she had been in Gryffindor to begin with.

In hindsight, Lily could easily see James casting off a Slytherin like that, considering that, in spite of the fact that Severus had probably saved Remus' life in Diagon Alley, he still had yet to apologize for any of his bullying of Severus prior to fourth year. In Lily's mind, fourth year didn't truely count because it had been what she had always believed the emnity to be, a rivalry between equals rather than a bully attacking a weaker victim who desperately tried to defend himself.

That particular act of James, giving up on Mulciber because they had joined different houses caused Lily to remember dismally how she and Severus had failed to make any friends that they shared with each other, which was one of the main causes of them growing apart as they frequently couldn't spend time with each other with any of their other friends around. 'I wonder what would have happened if Severus and Mary had become friends from the beginning? I mean, I doubt that any of the Knights with the possible exception of Mulciber would have even considered trying to bother with Severus with two 'Mudblood' friends.'

Surprisingly, Lily's opinion of the boy who had only yesterday tortured one of her friends had grown by a fair amount, although she still firmly believed that he deserved to be punish to the full extent of the school rules, which Mulciber had said that he had planned on from the beginning, shrugging.

The reason that Lily's respect for Mulciber had suddenly grown was simple; although what Mulciber had done was wrong and despicable and he knew it, Mulciber had been doing it primarily to protect a friend, even if he had admittedly enjoyed it too much and let it go on for too long. Still, Mulciber had fully intended to confess to Dumbledore even before the 'session' had begun, and that struck a chord with the red-head, especially when he apologized to her and told her that he would be apologizing to Sabrina when he first got the chance, as he had been doing it all for what was apparently no good reason.

This earned him more respect in Lily's eyes as she still remembered how one of the things that had originally attracted her to James the most was how he had told her that he regretted how he had bullied her best friend and that he was truly sorry for what he had done. In hindsight, it had only been a lie to make himself look better in her eyes, but what Mulciber had done was completely different in Lily's opinion, because Mulciber, unlike the Marauders, had no intention of evading his punishment, instead accepting it as his due. He had not only claimed to be sorry for what he had done, but he had been planning from the beginning to accept justice.

In contrast, the Marauders had happily made up excuses and tried to get other people to take the blame whenever they were caught, frequently denying that what they were doing was wrong at all...

Suddenly, at the end of her monologue, Lily noticed that Mary and Severus had seemed to get angrier and angrier with each word that passed, until finally Severus furiously started blasting a bookshelf which had been filled with glass phials and vials with a barrage of curses, clearly unable to maintain complete control; the hexes and curses slammed into the tiny glass containers, one after another, causing them to burst into shattered fragments as Severus roared in rage.

When Lily looked at Mary in shock, shocked at Severus' sudden fit of rage and feeling a sense of dread, Mary said, trying to keep her voice steady as she glared at the ceiling with furious eyes blazing like small suns, although Lily could tell that the anger inside wasn't aimed toward her, "Don't worry, Lily...Like me he isn't angry at you, at least, I don't think so...He just needs a way to release, that's all..."

As Severus slowly, carefully, smashed every single one of the glass objects he had been aiming at to dust, so thoroughly that it looked like a glittering crystal snow, creating an atmosphere of utter destruction surrounding them, Mary frowned, then said coldly, "Dumbledore clearly has a lot to answer for...He will suffer for what he has done..."

Lily was confused at the look of cold fury on Mary's face as she said that, and started to get more than a little uneasy at just how angry she was, even if it wasn't aimed at her...

* * *

Mary looked at Lily's confused face and was angered even more at her incomprehension of just what exactly Dumbledore had done, so she walked towards her slowly, speaking furiously, her words cracking like whips, "Do you want to know WHY Dumbledore needs to suffer!? Do you!? DO YOU!?"

Lily backed away, looking like she thought that Mary was more than slightly mad, an impression that probably wasn't hurt by how she let out a laugh that even Mary considered somewhat maniacal, then Mary said in a voice that would have been calm, if it weren't a calm that was clearly barely managed, backing her almost into a wall as she did so, "I'm sure that you know the gist of what happened that night; Black forged a letter from you, telling Severus that you wanted to meet him in the Shrieking Shack. Severus went, I followed, then we barely avoided getting devoured by that bloody werewolf by shattering all four of his legs, then high-tailing it out of there where we met you."

Lily nodded, clearly frightened, but brave enough not to run, then Mary continued in that same tone of voice, relishing how she could FINALLY say this to someone other than Severus, and only then behind a _Muffliato_, lest they trigger the contract, "We then went to the Headmaster, seeking to have you expelled, if not arrested, on ATTEMPTED MURDER, but not only did he not even bother investigating, claiming that we possessed insufficient evidence to manage a conviction after the letter self-destructed, but he put us under a contract! Yes, a CONTRACT that prevented us from mentioning the incident, the letter 'you' sent us with your ruddy owl, the fact that Remus was a werewolf or even that we were in any physical danger at all at the time!"

Mary then roared straight into Lily's face, which had gone completely white with fear, screaming aloud, "THREE YEARS! That was the price of my LIFE, SEVERUS' LIFE, EVERYTHING that we ever accomplished, WOULD accomplish, or COULD accomplish! ALL of it made less difference to DUMBLEDORE THAN THREE BLOODY YEARS OF A BLOODY GRYFFINDOR'S EDUCATION! HE PUT US UNDER A BLOODY CONTRACT NOT TO TELL ANYONE SO THAT HIS ROTTEN LITTLE WEREWOLF PUP COULD GET EDUCATED FOR THREE MORE YEARS!"

Mary wouldn't be surprised if, if it weren't for the fact that she and Severus had made the room effectively sound-proofed weeks ago so that they wouldn't be overheard discussing the incident, the rest of the castle would have overheard her screaming, given that Severus was currently covering his ears rather than continuing to release his anger by blowing things up, but she continued in a voice that she suspected might break eardrums it was so loud, shrieking,

"BECAUSE HIS STUPID INVESTIGATION WOULD HAVE INCONVENIENCED LITTLE REMUS LUPIN'S EDUCATION, HE LET THE GUILTY GO FREE AND TOLD US, THE BLOODY VICTIMS, TO SOD OFF, THEN SCREWS US OVER WITH A STUPID CONTRACT FOR OUR PAINS! AND NOW YOU COME HERE AND TELL US THAT HE HAS A SUSPECT, WHO HAD MOTIVE, OPPORTUNITY AND MEANS, AND, RATHER THAN INVESTIGATING, HE MAKES HIM THIRD-IN-COMMAND OF HIS NEW 'DEFENSE ASSOCIATION' BEHIND HIMSELF AND POTTER!? HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE EVEN REMOTELY SURPRISED BY HOW ANGRY WE ARE!?"

As Lily cowered, covering her ears to block out some of the volume, Severus then shouted back, "MARY! I agree with you, but if you keep this up, NONE of us will ever be able to hear ANYTHING ever again!"

Taking a series of deep breaths and counting to thirty in an attempt to to calm herself down, Mary then said in a voice that was equally angry, but much quieter, almost crying now in sheer fury, grabbing Lily by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes as she pleaded for her to understand, "Lily, after the end of last term, Severus and I went looking through every single rulebook for Hogwarts we could find in order to find some loophole that would enable us to tell someone and not get expelled, without being able to return, from Hogwarts, thanks to his moronic contract, only finding one that was relevant, the fact that Aurors were technically, even though they were still students, not subject to punishment from any teachers or even the headmaster, thanks to the fact that it was Ministry responsibility."

She then continued, voice cracking, tears starting their paths down her face as she did so, "I had to build _Terranum _from the ground up, creating soldiers for the Ministry out of my own classmates, practically selling my soul, in order to get the ability to tell anyone about this crime without ruining my future, and now you tell me that Dumbledore all but knows who did it, yet still has yet to even consider it even remotely worthy of punishment!?"

She then sobbed as she continued, barely able to keep herself from burying her face in Lily's shoulder until Severus wrapped his arms around her, soothing her with his presence, "You know what makes this even more disgusting? Last year, you went to ask Dumbledore what happened after Severus got nearly killed inside the Shrieking Shack, and he made it sound like Severus had followed the Marauders, getting himself into a dangerous situation for no reason, then Potter saved him out of the goodness of his heart, when really it was all a prank by the Marauders and Severus got put under a bloody contract never to reveal it to anyone because of his PET WEREWOLF!"

Mary then pulled Lily so close that a few more inches would have gotten them into a lip-lock, before she whispered, "He is an accomplice for two, possibly three counts of attempted murder, even if it is after the fact, and he has made done his best to make it impossible for Severus or I to tell anyone about it until we leave Hogwarts. He deserves Azkaban for this, and I will make BLOODY CERTAIN he gets it!"

Lily seemed to have entered a complete state of shock after Mary's blunt statement, but nodded, although in agreement or out of sheer dazedness, it was impossible to tell. Having finally let everything out, like she had been longing to do for weeks, Mary fell back and panted in sheer exhaustion for several minutes, as everyone seemed to try to recover after that furious tirade.

Finally, Mary remembered something and fired a quick nonverbal stinging hex at Lily's left leg, causing her to yelp in sudden pain, before screaming in anger, "What was that for!?"

Mary then glared at her, then said angrily, "THAT was for not trusting us a month ago and telling us what you discovered then, you sodding idiot!" Then, as Lily blinked in surprise, Mary enveloped her into a crushing hug, tears streaming down her face as she whispered, "And this is MY apology for not trusting you back in June; please forgive me for that..."

Lily whispered back, smiling as tears ran down her own cheeks, "I forgive you..."

Meanwhile, Severus looked uncomfortable, as if unsure whether he should join in on the hug or stay away from the two girls, before finally muttering "Girls...", which made both of the two girls start laughing before Lily tripped Severus with her leg and dragged him into the hug with them, causing him to blush and smile slightly...

* * *

**_Eight Days Later, Monday October 26th, 1975_**

Sirius Black sat alone atop the Astronomy Tower, long after curfew, and thought back over the last week, having a hard time understanding exactly what was going on after that strange conversation with Macdonald, and wondering if he might have missed something as the possible reason for it. 'OK, Macdonald asks me to tell her what's going on between me and Evans, threatening my friends to make me talk, then, when I tell her, is rather nonchalent other than requiring me to, if and when she wants me to, confess all the crimes that happened that night to the Ministry of Magic, lest my friends enjoy near-permanent beds in the Hospital Wing or St. Mungo's...'

It wasn't that Sirius wasn't ungrateful for what Macdonald had done in not immediately forcing him to go to the Ministry and get a one-way ticket into Azkaban, which he would have agreed to in order to spare his friends' hides, but rather that he was completely surprised how little she seemed to mind what he had done; Evans and Snivellus, who had both been there as witnesses, also allowing her to negotiate for them, were clearly both dumbstruck by how he acted, especially given how Evans had asked _"Err, Mary, don't take this the wrong way, but could you please explain to me why you didn't try to _Sectumsempra_ his balls off?"_, causing Sirius to wince even now.

After all, he doubted that even Madam Pomfrey knew the countercurse to THAT particular spell, and he rather liked keeping his bits and pieces in one piece, thank you very much. Sirius had been equally shocked at Macdonald's mild response, having a very clear memory of how she had all but annihilated Gryffindor's chances of winning the House Cup on account of him sleeping with one of her friends to make her jealous.

'At least I was shocked at the time, now I'm beginning to think that she didn't do it out of the goodness of her 'merciful' heart...' No, mercy hadn't been in Macdonald's eyes as she had all but let him off the hook, telling him that she might even let him off easy if he behaved well; instead, there had been a look that Sirius recognized as the same one that he saw on evil people like the Slytherins all the time. The look he recognized signified the pinnacle of Slytherin slimy-gitness and craven cunning: it promised some form of reward for the Slytherin...and almost-certain suffering for everyone else...

'No, Macdonald wasn't doing it for my benefit, but rather for her's in some way...But what could she possibly hope to gain by NOT having me confess? I mean, it's not like I am going to try to make her angrier than she is or should be now...' Sirius jumped up and paced moodily, trying to turn over every possible angle as he covered the top of the Astronomy tower with his footprints, but not getting anywhere to speak of, eventually sighing and falling back down, lying on his back.

'Well, at least one thing good came from that whole debacle last week, two things if you count Avery being under arrest...Evans has finally been revealed as the Slytherin whore that she really is and has been all along...' After Sabrina had woken up, she had told them, then all of Gryffindor how, when given the choice between Sabrina's well-being and Evans' friendship with two slimy Slytherins, rather than saving Sabrina, like any good Gryffindor would have, Evans had laid back and allowed her to be tortured until she had finally gotten bored, then she finally rescued them by using some wandless magic.

The Gryffindors MIGHT have considered giving Evans a second chance, when hell froze over perhaps, if she showed herself truly remorseful and repentent, if it weren't for how Sabrina had heard Evans and Mulciber chatting later in the night of the attack, and Evans had COMPLIMENTED the torturing git, telling him that he was a better friend than James Potter would ever be.

After hearing that, Evans had been shunned more than Macdonald had ever been, even after it had been found out she had betrayed all of Gryffindor last year, and Sirius was pleased to see how downright MISERABLE the lying bint had been when one of the Gryffindor girls had distracted her for a while, giving Evans' room-mates time to turn her bed and trunk into a giant fireball.

Sirius chuckled at how McGonagall had responded when Evans had asked for her assistance in dealing with the incident, as, although she had allowed Evans to replace the bed, she had looked at her coldly and told her that, if she didn't want this to happen again, she would be better off cultivating friendships with her house-mates, rather than betraying them. 'For once, I have to say that McGonagall actually did the right thing, and I respect her for doing it rather than favoring the Slytherins like she usually does...'

Sirius personally thought that Evans should have been expelled, but from what he had heard, the headmaster, although he had looked at her with utter disgust, had only seen fit to put her in detention for a month for her crimes. 'Oh well, at least Evans is finally getting what she deserves for getting in the way of our honorable war with the slimy Slytherin git, SNIVELLUS...'

Sirius grinned as he pictured Evans' looks of self-loathing he had seen on her sometimes. 'Who knows? Maybe if we keep this up, she'll kill herself...'

* * *

**_Two Weeks Later Monday November 9th, 1975_**

_...Dream-Lily stood there for a moment, then began to rise slowly, floating on a pillar of darkness and flame back up into the 'sky'. Nervous, she called out, clearly frightened, "What's going on!? Why is this happening!?"_

_In response, the ten-year old Severus, surrounded by his aura of black light, smirked, floating up alongside her, then he stroked her right cheek with a tender look on his face, causing Dream-Lily to calm down, smiling slightly. He then said quietly, tenderly, "You have made your choice, even though it will cost you dearly; now, go and find the ones you love most. Farewell, Lily..."_

_As Dream-Lily rose into the sky, shafts of light rained down from above, gouging her arms and legs, forming scars over her back and causing her to cringe back and hiss in pain. Nonetheless, she didn't even seem to think about trying to escape her predicament, and let herself get slashed and impaled by the endless shining rain, fired by what appeared to be men and women whose bodies were obscured by a light so bright that Lily was surprised they could even see..._

_Suddenly, two figures appeared adjacent to those men and women, one the ten-year old Severus that she had been speaking to, the other a ten-year old girl with long brown hair, with two wings of seething flame sprouting from her back. Lily couldn't see what they were doing, but she heard them quite clearly; when Severus spoke, she wanted to shiver from just how icy-cold his voice was, "You will stop this at once...Her punishment is her own to bear, caused by her own conscience..."_

_She heard a voice that sounded awfully like James' respond defiantly, screaming, "She deserves to suffer, and we will make her scream in pain for what she has done! We WON'T stop!"_

_In response, the flame-winged girl said furiously, in a voice that Lily recognized as Mary's, even if it was a bit younger-sounding than she remembered, "If you won't stop of your own accord, then WE will stop you by FORCE!"_

_Then..._

Lily woke up with a gasp, looking around quickly to make sure that none of her room-mates had decided to try an break through her wards before attacking her in her sleep...again. With no-one around, she got to thinking about her dream, which she was pretty sure had mirrored reality in many respects, even if she didn't know what the pillar symbolized, putting her face in her hands as she did so.

Just like in the dream, Severus and Mary had accepted her back quickly, and the three of them had very much enjoyed being best friends again, but her conscience pained her every time she laughed with them, reminding her of the screams that the innocent, Sabrina, had suffered through to restore her friendship, and it had gone into overdrive ever since, when the Veritaserum had been completed, Severus had calmly _Evanesco_'ed it, saying that he had no need to have her go to Azkaban in order to prove to him her innocence, and Mary had agreed, laughing.

In Mary's teasing words, _"Ignoring our friendship, all that you have done to prove it to us, and your clear sorrow at what you had thought you had done, how could you possibly even CONSIDER that we would believe Sirius Black, a man who has nearly killed Severus once before, over you if you had that level of evidence? Frankly, if it hadn't been for the fact he had used your owl, we would have assumed that it was him or Potter in the first place!"_

Lily had chuckled then, but she certainly wasn't laughing now, because it meant that, if she had merely told them back when she had gotten all of her evidence, then Mulciber would have never even bothered with what he had done, and Sabrina and all of Gryffindor wouldn't have hated her... 'How many times can I SCREW UP!? I mean, I know that it seemed that Severus and Mary would never trust me again back in September, but WHY didn't I tell them one time out of all the times that they asked me about it!?'

Sometimes, Lily felt that it would have been better for the world if she HAD died and stayed dead, giving someone else the chance to go back and relive their lives, as she seemed to be doing a positively horrendous job so far, given that it was likely that she would destroy this world thanks to her actions. Those times, Lily almost felt glad that, when she destroyed the world, at least she would get the punishment that she deserved; she actually didn't mind the torment that she was receiving from her fellow Gryffindors that much anymore, as it hurt less than the pain of her own conscience...

Nonetheless, she had other things to focus on, such as Severus and Mary's clear desire to see Dumbledore hang for what he had done. Lily then sighed and fell back on her bed, laying her head on her pillow and sighed heavily, before thinking to herself,

'The troubling part is that, quite simply, things are too complex for there to be a clear-cut right or wrong answer. On the one hand, Dumbledore certainly does deserve at least a few years in Azkaban for acting as he did, allowing himself to become an accomplice to attempted murder, but on the other hand, based on the other time-line, Dumbledore is VITAL to the fight against Voldemort, making finding the correct answer more than a little problematic...Do I help them put Dumbledore into Azkaban, which he deserves, or do I try to keep them from doing so, permitting him to get off scot-free so that he can help in the fight against Voldemort?'

Lily tossed and turned the remainder of the night, thinking it over without being able to come to a clear decision, ending up completely exhausted all day as she couldn't get back to sleep...

* * *

**_One Week Later Monday November 16th, 1975_**

Severus frowned as he sat beside Lily and Mary in the library, all three of them supposedly focused exclusively on studying, especially because he, with Mary's help, had come up with a new idea for a spell: quite simply, it was mostly for the benefit of those who, like Lily, would never use the killing curse even if it became legal.

The spell was based on Severus' _Sectumsempra_, but aimed in a different direction; rather than being focused on a long slashing ray, unlikely to miss given the area covered, Severus had already decided to make it more of a direct, stabbing blast, similar to a spear of energy, which would ideally give the spell the ability to penetrate shields like _Protego _similarly to the _Avada Kedavra_. Unfortunately, it needed a LOT more work before they could really consider it as an alternative to the killing curse...

However, Severus had something else on his mind, the girl he was currently looking at surreptiously out of the corner of his eyes, Lily; it wasn't that he was checking her out out of sexual intent, but rather out of worry. 'She's gotten thinner again...and there is a scar on the back of her wrist that I don't remember seeing the last time we talked, which was last night...'

Almost the same day that the attacks on Lily had begun, Severus had assigned one of _Terranum's _groups to tail her each day, without letting her know about it, so as to discourage any of Lily's fellow Gryffindors from attacking her, as well as giving those groups some valuable combat experience.

On the bright side, they had caused the Gryffindors to stop going after her in the open, and the Slytherins had stopped attacking period as, even though Severus had finally taken the long-delayed step of entering _Terranum_, his political power within Slytherin was still too great to assail, mainly because none of them wanted to go up against _Terranum _without a VERY good reason, as random Muggleborns were a far easier target than a trained fighting force...

On the not-so-bright side though, Severus knew that the Gryffindors had merely taken to tormenting Lily while inside of Gryffindor tower, and he was at a loss to stop it, given that she thought she deserved it, so she wouldn't name the names of any of her tormentors.

Severus couldn't really blame Sabrina or Potter for being angry with Lily, and he would have understood if they were the only ones bothering her, as Sabrina had been directly harmed by Lily's choice, and Potter was her boyfriend, so he might have let it slide, more or less, letting Lily deal with it to some extent, but Severus drew the line at anyone else. The rest of Gryffindor, he had no sympathy for, as they weren't directly involved in it, so it was none of their business, considering that, while what Lily had done was ruthless, it wasn't against any rules or laws, and she had tried and eventually succeeded in saving Sabrina from Mulciber's torment.

Frankly, the reason that Severus suspected that the other Gryffindors blamed Lily wasn't because they wouldn't have chosen the same thing if they had been in a similar situation, choosing between two best friends and one good friend, but because it was easier to blame Lily than admit that they would have chosen the same thing... 'Of course, it could have just been because the 'one good friend' sacrificed was a Gryffindor and the two best friends that Lily had elected to keep were Slytherin...'

Whatever their reasons, Severus decided, enough was enough; since clearly the teachers were doing nothing to stop the madness, it was up to him and Mary to do their jobs for them. 'I might not have been able to help Mary last year, but they are mad if they think that I am going to sit around and do nothing this time around, now that I have the firepower to do something about it! If they keep going after Lily like this, then _Terranum, _Mary and I will make sure that they regret it!_'_

Speaking of the teachers, Severus was disgusted and appalled at how the professors were acting; it was even worse than it had been for him with the Marauders before last year, when they had frequently only punished the Marauders if they had acted up right in front of them, sometimes laughing when they had heard of the pranks. Now, the teachers would merely look at Lily coldly, before 'punishing' the offending students by giving them detentions like one night of kitchen clean-up duty, which was a joke because the house elfs would do it for the students, while giving them anything they could possibly desire in the form of food in the process...

Severus glared at the textbook he was pretending to look at as he thought about this, as that reminded him of Dumbledore and his actions; while he could understand why the man was disgusted with Mulciber when he punished him, Severus was appalled at how he had taken Lily, one of the victims, and punished her for trying to make the best choice she could.

He had given her a month's detention for it, which was as much as Black had gotten when he was caught nearly killing Severus after the first werewolf incident last year, and that, Severus had argued, had been an attempted murder, AT LEAST deserving expulsion which Dumbledore had denied. In all honesty, Severus' hatred of Black now paled in comparison to his hatred of Dumbledore, as Black at least had some sort of reason for hating him, while it was Dumbledore's JOB to protect his students, and even BLACK seemed to know that he deserved punishment now, as even he had agreed to testify about what he had done to the Ministry.

In contrast, Dumbledore didn't seem to feel any guilt at all about what he had done, sure that he had done the 'right thing' in his actions over the past several months in preventing and perverting justice. Severus had little to no sympathy for those who committed despicable acts like that and acted as if punishment was something that was beneath them...

Severus then sighed. 'At least one good thing happened thanks to what occured last month: Lily has finally joined _Terranum_, and our frienship has been completely restored...'

It had been surprisingly easy to convince Lily to join after he and Mary had taken the time to carefully explain what _Terranum_'s objectives were and why. Lily had, to Severus' surprise, made the leap to understanding why the Ministry had decided that the Death Eaters had to be stopped by any means necessary with great ease, and had joined up immediately, providing Mary with the perfect third person to round out their command group...

'I wonder if Mulciber will actually join _Aduro Terranum_ as he promised; I suspect so, as he has always been the type to keep his word and hearing about the planned slaughter of _Terranum _seemed to sicken him, as it was completely against his honor code. If only he could have joined _Terranum_...'

Another thing that had Severus gritting his teeth in fury at Dumbledore was how he had allowed the rules for Hogwarts to be bypassed in seeking Mulciber's expulsion. While what Mulciber had done was truly terrible, it didn't, by the laws of Hogwarts, merit expulsion, and Severus knew it. It was like taking a thief and punishing him with life in Azkaban; the punishment just didn't fit the crime...'

**Author's Notes: **The deal that Severus and Mulciber made will be revealed next chapter...Unfortunately, the angst isn't quite over, as much as I had hoped it would be, but things should look up around the holidays, so stay tuned...

For the record, Mary doesn't hate Remus, she is just angry that the crimes committed against her and Severus were ignored to keep him safe, rather than actually being punished and investigated as they deserved...

Also! I have a new challenge!

**The 'I'm married to...Severus!?' Challenge**

**Rules: **

**1. Lily, either during her wedding with James, during her honeymoon with James, immmediately after Harry's birth, or some point in between, where she...**

**2...is suddenly (Choose one)...**

_...sent to an alternate universe at the same time period_

**Or**

_...sent to a future where James is dead_

**Or**

_...put into the future body of Hermione Granger_

**3...and is put into a similar situation to the one she left, but where she has married Severus, or is in the process of doing so.**

**The rest is up to you guys...have fun with it, and please PM me if you decide to use it as the basis for your story!**


	45. Unearned Guilt

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 45**

**Unearned Guilt**

_You do not deserve this pain, Lily..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

**_The Next Day Tuesday November 17th, 1975_**

Arcturus trudged back to his room slowly, not even paying attention to the portraits whispering around him, muttering about how disgraceful he had been, an embarrassment to the Mulciber family even. Admittedly, if he had heard, he wouldn't have disagreed with them, as, in spite of his fairly high grades, he had been expelled from Hogwarts on account of 'Conduct Unbecoming of a Gentlewizard', a joke of a charge, which was normally only used when a rich family had a boy who had committed rape, but had the resources to keep it hushed up.

Dumbledore, lacking the ability to personally have him expelled, as what he had been doing was covered by, like he had told Evans, 'Sustained Hexing-Bullying', had apparently had one of his supporters in the School Board drum up the charges, declaring, on behalf of the school, that he was no longer welcome at Hogwarts.

Arcturus then sat on his bed, kicking his trunk moodily; he considered getting to studying, which he would have to do it he wanted to pass the O.W.L.s, which could be taken upon reaching the appropriate age, even if one wasn't in an official school like Hogwarts, but decided against it. He had other things to think about, such as the promise that Severus had extracted from him in return for his forgiveness. Sighing, he laid back on the Ravenclaw-blue covers, looking up at the ceiling, which was painted with scenes of the Mulcibers' past glory.

The promise which Severus had extracted from him was almost cruel in how demanding it had been, but Arcturus could easily understand why he had required it of him; Dumbledore had been over the line in his actions he was sure, but Severus had only made it a condition if he wanted his and Mary's forgiveness.

'Besides' Arcturus thought furiously, 'Severus was right about one thing; I might hate Mudbloods, but it's one thing to wage war against them, and quite another to pretend that you are going to be their ally and stab them in the back. I can't support an organization that is willing to do something like that; it would just be 'dishonorable conduct unbefitting of a Mulciber', but it is one thing not to support them, and quite another to fight against them...'

Severus had included his forgiveness and Mary's forgiveness as a package deal, so Arcturus, if he wanted his friend's forgiveness for what he had done would have to pay dearly. It had been a truly vile act now that he thought of it, considering Lily's innocence, although he wouldn't have felt the slightest guilt had she actually been guilty of attempted murder like he had thought.

Arcturus then rolled his eyes at his own thick-headedness, muttering to himself as he laid back on his bed, thinking, "How could I have been so stupid as not to trust Severus and Mary? Neither of those two are fools, and I was disrespecting their intelligence by not considering whether or not they would have already thought of it..."

He then sighed, before getting up and heading over to his ancient oak desk, muttering aloud as he pulled out a sheer of parchment, "I guess there's nothing else for it...It is weird though; it's easy to understand why Severus wants me to join _Aduro Terranum_, but why would Mary be interested in THEM? It makes no sense. Well, I suppose that that's the least of the requirements she had..."

Shrugging, he carefully wrote the letter he was going to send to the Mulciber family lawyers on Mary's behalf...

* * *

**_Five Days Later Sunday November 22nd, 1975_**

Lily slowly walked down to the Great Hall just after lunch lunch, puzzled at the note she had received from Severus; it simply told her to go to the Great Hall, pick up the only piece of roasted chicken at the table, cluck like said chicken, then wave it around in her right hand.

Feeling extremely foolish, Lily decided to follow his instructions nonetheless, as she had nothing better to do; besides, Severus had said that, if she did this properly, he would give her something extremely valuable to compensate for the embarrassment, something that he was sure that she would appreciate. With most people, she would assume that he was pranking her for the sake of pranking her, especially because Severus had been quite the prankster as a child, especially when Petunia was involved, but she decided to trust Severus in this.

Even though she was embarrassed, when she went into the Great Hall, she immediately walked over to the table, picked up the only piece of chicken, then started clucking and waving it around, causing the few people still in the Great Hall's jaws to drop in shock, staring at the apparent mad-woman. Lily had just enough time to blush before the chicken turned into another note, which said:

__

_Lily,_

_Go into the Entrance Hall; there you will find a hat. Put it on and say the phrase "Surf's up, dudes!"._

_Severus_

A bit nervous, Lily jogged over to the Entrance Hall, then saw the hat resting over by the door heading outside; it was a bright blue baseball cap, and she felt stupid, yet was positively giddy as she put it on her head, smirked, then yelled, in a bad American accent, "Surf's up, dudes!"

Even though there were quite a few more people there, all of whom whirled around at her shouting, she felt a rush go through her as she did so; immediately, the hat disappeared, dropping another note onto the ground and somehow turning her clothing into a bright blue bikini swimsuit. Eyes going wide at that particular surprise, Lily nonetheless picked up the note from the muddy floor where it had fallen and read the next set of instructions, brushing off the mud as she did so.

_Lily,_

_Go over to our favorite tree by the lake and read the notecard pinned there, then do what it says._

_Severus_

Noticing the stares of everyone in the Entrance Hall still falling upon her, Lily smirked and blew a kiss at the other students, laughing at how their mouths were imitating the gaping of fish, then, practically skipping, Lily raced outside and over to their tree, which had apparently started growing a beard of ivy, as if in protest to the changing seasons.

Luckily, although it was the very end of Autumn, for some reason the atmosphere had temporarily heated up substantially around Hogwarts, and it was still almost as warm as it had been in September, so Lily didn't feel she was likely to freeze outside.

Speaking of 'their tree', Lily saw a note there, tacked to a rope which was hanging from something in the upper branches; the note said 'Pull me!'. Laughing, Lily yelled aloud, "There is no way I am falling for something as simple as that, Sev! You'll have to do much bett-AH!"

Unfortunately for Lily's boasting, Severus had decided to announce his presence from where he was hiding with a quick _Depulso_, sending her flying into the lake, a good thirty feet thanks to the extra distance provided by starting ten feet above water-level, landing on what felt like a cushion of air before promptly sinking into the water, where she spluttered indignantly, mouth full of water, glaring back at her maliciously cruel friend, who actually had a bit of a grin for once on his face. Finally getting all of the water out, she shouted, "What the bloody hell was that for, you jerk!?"

Severus, in forest green trunks of his own, probably paid for by Mary over the Summer, shouted in response, "I thought that it would make a good change of pace, Lily! Besides, we're fifteen years old and when was the last time the two of us went out to the lake together!?"

Lily was about to shout back her angered answer, when she suddenly slipped under the water without a word, but with a giant splash and a scream...

* * *

Upon hearing Lily's scream, Severus, suspecting that the Giant Squid had somehow attacked her even though it was relatively shallow waters and paralyzed with fear by that possibility, ran over to the edge of the water, dived in, and finally remembered the main reason he had never swam with Lily, preferring to watch her from shore: he couldn't swim for beans. Still, he did his best, and managed to make it nearly twenty feet out, whereupon he promptly sank like a stone.

Looking around under the water frantically, he saw that Lily had merely ducked down a bit and performed a Bubble-head charm, using the splash to cover it, and was smirking now. Severus then glared at her, before trying to, somehow, swim the about five feet up that he would need to to break the surface of the water. Failing miserably, he gestured frantically over to Lily, hoping that she would help him somehow.

Realizing his predicament, Lily mouthed "I'm sorry!" over at him, then grabbed him and pulled him up, using what appeared to be a lightening charm to make him easy to carry. Upon reaching the surface, and then the shallow waters again, the two friends breathed heavily for a bit, before Severus said, petulantly,

"You really shouldn't have done that, Lily. I was...somewhat worried about you..."

Lily then looked at him seriously a moment, before saying, "Next time, don't play games with me like that, Severus..." He nodded, equally seriously, then Lily giggled, before splashing him, causing him to splutter, then shouting, "Besides, how would you feel if I decided to make a sauna out our classroom? I'll bet you wouldn't be half as forgiving as I am!"

Severus nodded in agreement, before drawing his wand and upping the stakes, blasting her with a low-power _Aguamenti_, which, although much weaker than the firehose-strength normal version, was still enough water and enough speed to send her on her back, choking up water for a moment. Narrowing her eyes, Lily then said angrily, "I'll have you know, Sev...THIS MEANS WAR!"

For the next half-hour, the two best friends did their best to half-drown one another, unleashing blasts of water with charms, shoving each other with _Depulso_'s, and disarming one another with _Expelliarmus_, Lily having the advantage of her spellwork generally being better of the two, as well as being to swim perfectly well, in contrast to Severus who could drown in three feet of water given enough time.

Still, it was more fun to engage in this water-battle than actually win it, and both of them knew it. Finally, they called a halt to the battle, and they walked back to shore, where Severus had stashed a pair of metal, folding chairs for them to sit on, as well as a couple of ratty old towels for them to dry off with.

After doing so, Lily asked Severus, who was still trying to keep his hair from sticking to his face, "So, Sev, why did you go through all of that to do this? I mean, I loved it, but this generally isn't your sort of thing. You've always been...a bit more intellectual; I would have expected something like this to come from Potter..." Apparently, Lily had realized recently that she and James were no longer even on close enough terms to call each other by their given names, rather ironic considering how they had been dating not even six months ago.

Severus then said seriously, still trying to get his hair unstuck, no easy task, and something that really bothered him quite a lot, "I needed something that could snap you out of the...funk you were in; I mean, you've been moping for the past month, blaming yourself for what happened in Hogsmeade, letting everyone in Gryffindor take their pound of flesh out of you! I understand feeling guilty, but you really need to be able to get past it and move on..."

Lily then glared at him, before saying angrily, "That's easy enough to say, but let's see you do it! I'll bet that you would probably blame yourself the rest of your life if you were the one who had had to sacrifice a friend, even if it wasn't that much of one, to keep two of your others!"

Severus swallowed, privately admitting that she had a point, then decided to try to go at it with a different tack, wishing for a moment that he had waited to do this until tomorrow to get Mary's help with it, but slowly said anyway, "Maybe that's true...but let me ask you this: do you regret it?"

Lily, anger clearly rising, shouted, "Regret it!? Of course I regret it! Every week I've gotten at least two nightmares where I have to hear every scream and every moment of her pleading for mercy, and you ask if I regret i-"

Severus then put his hand to her mouth, before saying carefully, "You misunderstood my question; it wasn't 'Do you feel guilty for what happened to her?', but rather, 'Do you regret making that choice?'" Lily looked at him in confusion for a moment, so Severus continued, "Would you have preferred to make the other choice? Sacrificing mine and Mary's friendship to protect her for a couple of hours; I'll bet that, as much as you feel guilty for the decision that you made now, you would have felt twice as bad if you had given it up, wouldn't you!?"

Severus bit his lip for a second, nervous about Lily's answer, then Lily said quietly, shamefully, "I know that, and I hate that I do know that, that I was willing to let her get hurt for my own selfish reasons..."

Severus then said forcefully, "Then stop moping about it! You made a hard choice, and you believe that it was the right one!" He then said more quietly, looking at her through the curtain of his still-wet hair, "Besides, letting yourself beat up by your former 'friends' isn't doing anything to help; if you really feel guilty, do something for Sabrina to get her to forgive you, and tell the rest of Gryffindor to sod off."

At Lily's still-uncertain look, Severus said quietly, admitting, "I probably would have done the same, exact thing that you are doing now before I met Mary, mind you, but she taught me something: it's far better to live life regretting the choices you made than those you didn't. If it hadn't been for her, I probably wouldn't have told you how I feel about you until after you were married to Potter, being too afraid of your rejection, and I would have ended up regretting it to the end of my days."

He then swallowed, before saying more energetically, "How would you have felt if you, rather than making a choice, had simply stood there and let the choice be made for you!? Mulciber would have kept going for several hours probably, considering the upper limit on 'Sustained Hexing-Bullying' is four hours, but you managed to stop him at two!"

Lily then said quietly, "That's not what I really regret the most though..." She then kicked her feet abysmally, clearly depressed again, the opposite of what Severus had been trying to do for her.

Severus then furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what was bothering, then he suddenly realized what it must be, how she had waited for a month before telling him and Mary about Sirius. Thinking for a few minutes as to how to respond to this, he then said quietly, but slowly growing in volume as he eased into his topic,

"Ah, Lily, um...I know that, knowing what you know now, you would have been better off telling us about Sirius back in September, but you really shouldn't blame yourself for that. It wasn't only your fault, or even mostly your fault; Mary and I could have told Mulciber about our thinking that you weren't actually responsible for what happened last term, and it was MULCIBER who made the final choice, not you..."

Lily then bit her lip, saying, "But-"

Severus replied fiercely, "No 'but's'! For Merlin's sake, Lily! You forgave Mulciber for what he did far easier than even I did! Let alone Mary! His reasons might not have been that bad, thinking that you were attempting to kill us, but it was HIS CHOICE, just like it was Avery's CHOICE to rape Celeste! If you want to blame yourself for deciding to let Sabrina get hurt, that's one thing! But if you want to let Mulciber get off on what he did, then I think that you are acting less like the Lily I know and love than I have ever seen you act before!"

He then started to stomp away, annoyed at how stupid Lily was being, but hoping that this, embarrassing as it had been for the both of them, could finally knock some sense into her better than a month of wasted admonitions had, as at least this time he had realized why she was being so ridiculous about her self-loathing...

'Besides, at least now I can concentrate on more important things, like getting those Gryffindor gits to leave Lily the hell alone!'

* * *

_"...Avada Kedavra!" _James Potter snarled as he fired the killing curse at Celeste, who ducked it barely, flinching as the green beam shot straight over her right shoulder. She quickly analyzed the situation, facing Potter and the other three Marauders, minus Remus who had been taken out by a fast Stunner plus _Incarcerous_ combo.

Luckily, she had two others in her squad to help her, even if they were up against the 'Mighty Marauders', and she quickly shouted _"Aguamenti!"_, aiming a jet of boiling water at them, before yelling out a rapid _"Sectumsempra!"_, causing a lethal wound to the moronic jock, then ducked to the side as the rest of her group fired Stunners, taking out Black and Pettigrew, but not before Black fired a blast of green light, like his fallen friend, causing Amber Cadris to drop to the ground.

Quickly surveying the area, Celeste was sure that all members of the Order of the Phoenix's subsidiary, the 'Defense Association', had been suppressed as ordered while most of them were still sleeping in their beds, those who had resisted with lethal force dead on the floor.

Suddenly though, the illusion faded, and Mary appeared, sighing; looking them over, Mary then said with another sigh, "Well, on the bright side, in this simulation, you managed to take out all the members of the Defense Association, but you guys still suffered nearly 40% fatalities. We need to drop that to no more than 20% before we can let our boss know that _Terranum _is ready to execute _Daemonrime_ whenever he wishes. After all, _Daemonrime _assumes that we will have to deal with all of the order members, minus Dumbledore; we can't afford to risk it when we can't even handle the students by surprise without nearly half of us dying."

Bode then asked aloud, mildly confused, "A question, Mary? Why are we spending so much time on _Daemonrime_? Shouldn't we be focusing on _Burning Aegis_? The anti-Death Eater contingency plan? I mean, Dumbledore might be a right git, but the Death Eaters are still our primary target, aren't they!?"

Mary was silent for a few moments, drawing the attention of even those who had been distracted, then asked calmly, "Broderick, you are most assuredly correct, and Crouch WILL most likely have us attempt to take out the Knights, should things go into open war. They might still be students and not Death Eaters, but we will likely need to knock them out for Ministry incarceration for the duration of the war. HOWEVER!"

She then paused, before saying with a bit greater force, "A CONTINGENCY plan is designed to deal with the situation we DON'T want, not the one we DO want! Ideally, the Death Eaters will be so cowed by the Death Eater Suppression Act that they will all give up, rather than risk their lives, and Dumbledore's 'Order of the Phoenix' will NOT be our enemy! Nonetheless, we have to be ready for EVERY eventuality! Dumbledore's disagreements with the Ministry might lead to a situation where removing the Order of the Phoenix as a threat is our only real option, and THAT is why we are training so hard for _Daemonrime_! Do I make myself clear!?"

The members of _Terranum _who had shown up today all nodded, agreeing, before filing out one after another, and Celeste calmly walked over to Mary, who smiled slightly upon seeing her.

Interestingly enough, the two of them had become good friends after the incident last month, with Mary doing her best to console her for what had happened to her, but not babying her. With Mary and Severus' help, Celeste, in spite of her family's rejection upon hearing of the incident, had gotten to the point that she was starting to think she was over it, although she still didn't want to see Avery again, the fact that it was still a reasonable possibility one of the greatest sore spots of the incident.

Apparently, her family had been quite interested in the Avery family's influence, and had actually, without her knowledge, ENGAGED him to the perverted wanker back in August, just before he had started his little games with her body and mind. She suspected that it had been against Justin Avery's will, considering how much he seemed to look down on her, but he had happily used that as an excuse to tell the courts that, rather than REALLY raping her, Avery had merely been engaging in a bit of role-playing with Celeste.

To her horror, her own family had backed him up, claiming that they had seen the two of them one time making love while pretending that Avery was raping her once before, then they disowned her, as she had 'embarrassed' them in front of all of England. While she still had the trust fund she had received from her Great-grandfather when he died, easily enough to get her through Hogwarts and then some, it was the emotional pain that had hurt the most, especially the fact that, even though Avery had been expelled from Hogwarts, he had gotten off scot-free for his crimes.

Still, Celeste smirked slightly as the two girls walked back to the castle in silence, thinking to herself, 'At least Mary learned a good lesson from that; if you want someone to pay for their crimes, you have to hit them with so much evidence and such strong of charges that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it...Too bad for that manipulator, Dumbledore; Mary won't make her move until there is nothing that he can do to stop her...'

* * *

**_One Week Later Sunday November 29th, 1975_**

Mary and Severus looked over at the boy and girl on the other side of the Astronomy tower, waiting for them; while both clearly tried to appear completely calm, it was easy for Mary to see how nervous they were. Glancing over at Severus one last time, the two of them calmly walked up to their counterparts, and Mary said to the female of the pair, "We need to talk..."

**Author's Note: **Some of you commented that I was letting Mulciber off the hook too easily, saying that he shouldn't have done it only to spare Severus and Mary's feelings; I admit that what he did was completely awful and, as is being shown in this chapter, being punished profusely, his reasons weren't to protect their feelings, but their lives, as he had figured out some of what happened at the end of last term...

The only reason that Lily forgave him so fast was because, like Harry sometimes, rather than blaming the perpetraitor of the crime, she blamed herself for not stopping it (Hey, Harry had to have gotten it from somewhere!).

I'll suspect that I'll get a lot of complaints about Severus being out of character, but bear in mind, he had tried the normal ways to get Lily out of her funk with no effect, so he decided to try a different approach, taking a leaf out of Potter's book.

I forgot to mention in the earlier version, but Severus had already preprepared a Cushioning charm for Lily when she fell in (Forgetting to edit before turning in is not a good idea).

Also, I have something to say...

**_THE PAIRINGS POLL HAS RETURNED FOR THE FINAL CHOICE!_**

**The three pairing options are listed below; indicate your vote in your review or by PM(Only one per person is allowed). Most of the votes will only count as one vote, but, if you make a thoughtful and compelling argument in your review/PM, I will count your vote for double (If the argument sucks, it will still count for one vote, so it's win-win!)**

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved:

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world):

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only:

**Bear in mind, in addition to the pairings being different, the story will also continue differently depending on what pairing is chosen. Choose carefully, and enjoy!**


	46. The Guardian Angel Unleashed

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 46**

**The Guardian Angel Unleashed**

_It is time for me to stand up for myself and not leave that task to others..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

**_Sunday November 29th, 1975_**

Sabrina waited nervously for Mary to start talking, glancing over at James, who was talking animatedly to Snape who, in contrast, seemed almost unmoving; finally, after about three full minutes of waiting, staring at her the whole time, Mary said quietly, her chocolate brown eyes seeming almost black in the dim lighting as she spoke with a sigh, "I would like to talk to you about what is happening between Lily and the rest of you in Gryffindor...Quite simply, it's gotta stop before someone gets killed, like Lily..."

Sabrina glared back at Mary, then put her hands on her hips and snarled back, "What do you want me to do about it, Mary!? It's her fault that she got herself into this bloody mess, and she clearly showed that she could care less about me, so why should I CARE what happens to her!?"

In response, Mary said in a friendly tone of voice, "True, and I can see why you would be angry, no furious at her..." Mary then chuckled wryly, before saying with a shrug, "...Heck, I can easily see why you would want to hex her into the Hospital Wing yourself, considering that she DID make a choice that got you two hours of torture. Even though she did rescue you in the end, I can see why you would be...unhappy that she allowed it to go that far, and I would probably have looked the other way..."

However, Mary then said in a quieter tone of voice, "...But does she deserve all of Gryffindor house beating on her for trying to do the best she knew how? I mean, Lily blames herself for what happened just as much as you blame her, and she has been suffering for more than a month of PRANKS" For some reason, Mary seemed to spit that word out, before continuing in a more normal tone, "to the point that, in all honesty, I think she's about to turn into an Inferi at any given moment..."

Sabrina nodded, acknowledging this; Monday, she had been watching as Lily got dressed and ready for the day, and she had appeared to have lost something like ten or so pounds, becoming almost skeletally thin, and her once-brilliant green eyes had faded, an impression strengthened by the dark circles underneath her eyes.

In addition, now that she had thought of it, she hadn't really seen Lily smile for about a month, not really; the small part of Sabrina that remembered being Lily's friend was honestly getting really worried about her...Sabrina quickly squashed that line of thought however, and said angrily, "Regardless, although you MIGHT be right about Gryffindor overdoing it, why should I care about that backstabbing traitor!? I'll admit that what is happening to her might be a bit excessive, but why should I be the one to do anything about it!? Besides, she forgave that MONSTER Mulciber for what he did, so clearly she doesn't think that much of him hurting me!"

At that, Mary seemed to think for a while, putting her finger to her chin, then she said softly, "Because, if you were in her shoes, you would have done the same exact thing I'll bet..." As Sabrina's mouth dropped open in shock, Mary quickly continued, "...I mean, if you had been the one to make her choice, but it had been between Lily's safety or me and your boyfriend, James, which would you have done? Can you honestly tell me in complete confidance that you would have given up on your relationships with me and James for Lily?"

As Sabrina thought about that for a moment, wanting to disagree with Mary but unsure, Mary started to walk away, before pausing for a moment, saying quietly, "As for Mulciber, the only reason she forgave him for what he did so fast was because she blames herself more than he blames him. Does that sound like the action of a remorseless traitor to you?"

As Mary and Severus walked down the stairs and out of the Astronomy tower, Sabrina, and James too apparently, had quite a bit to think about...

* * *

**_Three Days Later Wednesday December 2nd, 1975_**

"...I still can't believe that even YOU would be friends with a pathetic excuse for a human being like Evans after what she did, let alone try to protect her!" Shouted a loud, almost-mad, masculine voice.

"The reasons that I am friends with her are my own" Said a cold, feminine voice, "You will leave her alone, Black, you, and the rest of your cowardly lions association!"

A whiny, male voice then said, laughing, "I'll bet it's because Evans wanted nothing more than to spread her legs for the infamous Slimy Slytherin! after all, the rest of Gryffindor is too good for bints like her!"

Upon hearing that, Celeste quickly ran forward, then turned the corner, only to see Black, Pettigrew and two other Gryffindor girls harassing Mary, who was coldly retorting everything that Black said, and Lily, who looked as if she had decided to make her middle name 'Depression' and seemed to be almost apathetic towards the insults she was receiving from the two boys, with the Gryffindor girls laughing at every single crack about her. All of them had their wands drawn and Mary and Lily were both surrounded and pinned against a wall.

In response to Pettigrew's taunt, Mary reddened in anger, then said in a voice that could freeze boiling water, slowly walking towards Black, wanted pointed straight at his chest, "Remember what I told you, Black? Your little secret? Leave her alone, or I'll make sure that you take your punishment like a man, rather than the SNIVELLING little boy you are! GOT IT!?"

As Celeste drew her own wand, preparing to intervene if it broke out into a fight, one of the Gryffindor girls, Alexandra Gregory if she recalled correctly, shoved Mary away, saying furiously, "Don't talk to my boyfriend like that, you piece of Slytherin garbage! Both of you should have been expelled in my opinion! You, for your little army of bullies, and Lily for betraying a GRYFFINDOR for SLIMY, SLYTHERIN TRASH LIKE SNIVELLUS AND HIS WHORE!"

Celeste gritted her teeth, furious at how that...WITCH had insulted two people she was sure would be two of the greatest heroes that Celeste had ever met, at least in her opinion. They might not be planning brilliant heroism or great bravery like she had heard Potter boasting about the Defense Association doing in the future in the battle against Voldemort, but Celeste wasn't a Gryffindor, but rather a Ravenclaw.

Like all Ravenclaws, Celeste knew that wars weren't won by dying valiently for your cause, but by slaughtering your enemies until they gave up the fight; it was simple logic: as long as the enemy thought they could win, they would keep fighting, and once they thought they couldn't win, they would stop fighting. As such, while Potter's group might become famous for their heroics, their honor, and their great deeds, Celeste knew that _Terranum_would be the ones to win the war for the wizarding world, and Mary and Severus were making it possible through every action they took.

In addition, both of them had been there for Celeste ever since that fateful day in Hogsmeade, there to listen to her talk about her nightmares, there to listen to her rant about how Avery should have been forced to kiss a Dementor, and there to help her rebuild her life and giving her other things to focus on.

'And this GRYFFINDOR thinks that she can call them TRASH!? HOW DARE SHE!? I'LL HEX HER UNTIL HER EYES BLEEDS' Celeste pointed her wand at the quartet, preparing to hex them with something particularly nasty, when Lily spoke, at first in a low voice, but soon shouting at the top of her lungs,

"Stop this now; Severus is right, this has gone on far too long...You have been attacking me for a month straight for making a hard choice; when will you be satisfied!? You should have given up on your stupid, bloody attacks WEEKS ago! And now you are insulting my FRIENDS!? HOW DARE YOU call Mary and Severus TRASH!? They are a THOUSAND TIMES better than someone like YOU could ever POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND!"

Alexandra, laughing coldly, then said maliciously, grinning back at Lily as she walked up to her and looked her straight in the eyes, "I'll call them whatever I want to call them. They are LYING, SLIMY, VICIOUS MONGRELS WHO-"

Celeste, who had stopped in surprise at Lily's actions, was about to start hexing, when Lily made her own move...

* * *

Sirius Black looked on in horror as he tried desperately to block the barrage of hexes flying at him, barely to even think about countering from their sheer power and precision. He had been in more than his fair share of unfair, onesided battles in his battles with Snape, Macdonald and their bloody _Terranum_, but he had never had to bear the brunt of anything like this before.

'Sure, I always knew that Evans was a talented witch, the best of her generation even, but this is positively UNREAL! How the hell is she even doing all of this!?' Sirius thought to himself as he just barely managed to blocka perfectly-aimed Stunner with a _Protego_. When Evans had started her attack, Alexandra had gone down easy, not much to Sirius' surprise really, but what had happened afterward was simply incredible.

Reacting quickly, Sirius and Peter had fired off a pair of their own hexes, with Cora Meadowes following only a split second later. However, instead of going down quickly like they had expected, Lily had put up a barrier to block Sirius' spell, used a trick with her wand to block Cora's, then fired an _Expelliarmus _of such power that it sent Peter's spell back the other way, knocking him out with his own Stunner, then sending him flying into a wall while disarming him with her Disarming Charm.

While Cora had stared at what had happened to Peter in utter disbelief, Evans had ducked Sirius' own Disarming Charm, then sent her crashing into the wall behind her with another _Expelliarmus_, before binding her with an _Incarcerous_. In all of six seconds, everyone on Sirius' side had been taken out of the fight, and the way it was going, Sirius would be down before twenty seconds had even gone by.

'This is PATHETIC! Macdonald isn't doing anything, and WE STILL got pulverised by that TRAITOROUS BINT! Oh bloody HELL!' Suddenly, Evans had fired a gout of water, which couldn't be blocked by anything other than a Shielding Charm, which wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for what the witch had fired next, a blast of light that was so bright that Sirius was utterly blinded, something that a Shielding Charm wasn't built to block for obvious reasons.

Less than three seconds later, Sirius was lying on the ground, moaning in pain, not knowing what hit him, but knowing that it hurt. 'How does that Muggle expression go? 'I feel like I got hit by a turck'? Well, I must have been hit by the mother of all 'turcks' then! How the hell did Lily Evans of all people get so strong!?'

Suddenly, Sirius heard something that made him smile, the sound of McGonagall shouting angrily, "Miss Evans! Miss Macdonald! What is the meaning of this!?"

Macdonald then said coolly, "Those four were insulting me as well as Lily, and provoked us into counter-attacking..." There was a pause, then Macdonald said, "...I attacked them first, I admit, but the things they were saying were degrading and disgusting, and-"

McGonagall then said coldly, "That will do, Miss Macdonald; I must say that I am very disappointed in you, considering how good of a student you used to be, but I must-"

Sirius, realizing what Macdonald was up to, then shouted, "Wait professor! It wasn't Mary who attacked us, it was Evans! Heck, Mary didn't even fire off one hex before Lily had taken us all down!"

Before McGonagall could respond, Sirius heard a female voice, Celeest Greengrass if he recalled correctly, say angrily, "That may be true, but those Gryffindors have been provoking and hexing her for nearly a month! If you are going to punish her, you might as well punish all of them as well!"

McGonagall then said, clearly annoyed at being told how to do her job, "Miss Greengrass, I am not going to punish them for what MIGHT have happened over the past month! Now then, fifty points from Gryffindor, two weeks detention for Miss Evans for bullying her schoolmates, and ten points from Slytherin and one day of detention for Miss Macdonald for attempting to lie to me. Hmmph!"

Sirius chuckled lightly at this, before slipping into unconsciousness with a smile on his face, happy that at least justice was being done...

* * *

**_One Week Later Wednesday December 9th, 1975_**

_...Unfortunately, in addition to what we just agreed upon, I'm gonna need to borrow your family's lawyers for an unknown length of time, until the 'special project' is completed. On the bright side however, if you agree to this, and do me one more favor, I'll let Sev know to forgive you._

_The favor I need is related to Lily; after your little 'punishment' you provided back in October, Lily has been turned into the Gryffindor steak, and everyone wants a piece of her. Thanks to you, she is getting hurt more from her own house than Sev ever was; we went to Dumbledore to ask him for his help. Surprisingly enough, he told us that he would be willing to ask the School Board if Lily could get a private room, which would help, if it weren't for the fact that that will probably take a couple of months, IF he succeeds._

_He did give us the alternative of asking the Head Boy and Head Girl if Lily could borrow one of their rooms, but given how they're both Gryffindors, and the Head Girl only last week gave Lily detention for 'polluting the Common Room with her disgusting presence', it didn't seem too likely._

_Severus and I are currently in the process of trying to think up alternatives, mind you, but even though Sabrina has stopped asking for Lily's head on a pike, this has gotten far too far out of hand for even that to stop them. As such, we need your help with your family's influence in the School Board, to try to cut down on the length of time until Lily is no longer imprisoned in her own, personal Hell._

_Give us your help, and I will consider your debt to me paid for._

_Sincerely,_

_Mary Macdonald_

Arcturus scratched his head, trying to figure out what Mary's 'special project' might be; it was obvious why she needed a lawyer to help deal with the contract with Greengrass, but why would Mary need almost every single one of the family's stable of lawyers for whatever she was doing?

'It's a good thing that my sister is allowing this because she is 'proud' of me for how I'm helping out my victim, or there's no way that my parents wouldn't have had my head mounted on a wall like one of Aunt Walburga's House-elves!' Luckily though, his older sister Astarte was the head of the family in all but name, in spite of the fact that she had been a Hufflepuff; in spite of that weakness though, she was as cut-throat as any Slytherin that Arcturus had ever met. 'Still, what's this all about?'

Arcturus thought about it a little, looking back up to the ceiling in his room, then decided that it was probably best not to know what Mary was up to. Besides, if this was all it took, in addition to access to the family's legal team, to regain Severus' friendship, he would happily do it. Severus had been his best friend in Slytherin, apart from Avery, since he had first came to Hogwarts and gotten rejected by Potter, having helped Arcturus fight off an attack by the Marauders midway through first year. 'There is no way I am going to give up on our friendship anywhere near that easily! Heck, if Macdonald had asked for it, I would have probably given her every Galleon in my trust fund!'

Having come to his conclusion, Arcturus walked over to his desk and started writing three letters, one to his sister, who was spending a week in Normandy, one to Mary, letting her know that he was going to accept her terms, and one to Selene, asking her if she wanted to meet up over the holidays. 'It's funny; why hasn't she responded to any of my letters recently? It's like, ever since I told her that I was joining _Aduro Terranum_, she has vanished from the face of the Earth!'

Shrugging, he started off towards the family's owlry, figuring that it would be best if he used his family's owls so that the letters would arrive as quickly as possible...

* * *

"OK, so you think that increasing the spin on the blast might help, Mary?"

"It should; remember, we are trying to make a blast that can pierce through the enemy's shields like an _Avada Kedavra_, increasing the spin should help by making it sorta...drill through them easier. By the way, have you come up with a name for the spell, Lily?"

Lily frowned, thinking back to her basic Latin, then said slowly, leaning against the wall in their favorite abandoned classroom where the two were taking time out from working on their homework to work on the spell that she, Mary and Severus had been dreaming up, "I think so; how does _Perfigo_ sound? I think it means 'To impale', or, 'to piece through'."

Mary, who was flipping through a post-Hogwarts level transfiguration textbook, mumbled for a moment, seeming to be trying the words out, then nodded, saying, "That sounds about right, Lily, although we should wait until we tell Severus before we settle on that name; remember, he made a bunch of spells before he even met me, and the name of the spell is crucial to the spell's effect. After all, intent in thought and word is the basis of all magic..."

Lily nodded, then said with a groan, putting her hand to her forehead as she did so, "I guess it's time to get back to Gryffindor tower; it's almost curfew, and I am a prefect, even if McGonagall is sabotaging me half the time, so I should try to set a good example, don't you think?"

Mary looked a bit glum, but nodded, saying, "Don't worry, Lily, Sev and I have some plans in order to fix the situation; we should be good to go before the Holidays, so don't worry your pretty little head." She said the last as she ruffled Lily's hair teasingly.

Lily, laughing, told her to stop, and was about to bid Mary goodbye, when she paused, turned back to Mary, then said, "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to help the two of you with your plans. Is that alright with you?"

Mary looked at her carefully, seeming to think hard for a few seconds, then said, shrugging, "Sure, that's fine; meet us here tomorrow, same time, and we can fill you in on what's what." She then smirked, before saying mischievously, "Besides, I've got something planned involving Celeste that I'm sure you would love to hear!"

Lily laughed, grinning, then started walking back to Gryffindor tower, thinking about what had made her want to get involved. Although she was sure that she trusted Mary and Severus enough that she didn't need to be involved, and she should have trusted him that much the last time-line, trusting him wasn't the reason that she got involved. It was more the other way around...

The reason, quite frankly, was that Lily felt that, while she normally disliked the Machiavellian-style politics that Mary and Severus seemed so fond of, that didn't mean that she didn't want to help them, and it was another way she could show them just how much she cared about them, and how much she had faith in their intentions. Besides, she wanted to show them that there was no reason to hide anything from her, as she truly trusted them before anyone...

'Also, Severus IS right; I've been letting them beat up on me for far too long! It's time for me to show THEM exactly what they are dealing with...' Lily then thought to herself about a different topic as she climbed through the Portrait-Hole, 'I do wonder what Mary has in mind with Celeste though; I heard from Sev that she had gotten a lawyer just so that she could help her in some way. I wonder what that's about?"

**Author's Notes: **The situation between Lily and the other Gryffindors is coming to a head, and Severus, Mary and _Terranum _are determined to protect Lily, whatever the cost...

In case some of you are wondering, what McGonagall was thinking was that, whatever Gryffindor had been doing the past month, she didn't have enough evidence to punish them now, and although the other Gryffindors might have provoked Lily, she DID use a great deal of force and violence. As such, she did have her reasons for what she did. As for Dumbledore, that remains to be seen...

Next Chapter, we will have a bit of a breather from this arc as those watching down upon our...not-so-valiant heroes have their say about how things are going...

As for the Voting on final pairing...

**_THE PAIRINGS POLL HAS RETURNED FOR THE FINAL CHOICE! _**

_**WARNING:** IF YOU VOTED IN THE LAST POLL (The one between Chapters 15-25), YOU WILL HAVE TO VOTE AGAIN UNFORTUNATELY. I LOST SOME OF THE NUMBERS ON WHO VOTED IN THAT POLL._

**The three pairing options are listed below; indicate your vote in your review or by PM(Only one per person is allowed). Most of the votes will only count as one vote, but, if you make a thoughtful and compelling argument in your review/PM, I will count your vote for double (If the argument sucks, it will still count for one vote, so it's win-win!)**

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved: 8

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world): 4

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only: 0

**Bear in mind, in addition to the pairings being different, the story will also continue differently depending on what pairing is chosen. Choose carefully, and enjoy!**


	47. The True Power of Nexuses

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 47**

**The True Power of Nexuses**

_Eventually, everything has a price, especially wickedness..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_A Place Beyond Time_**

"Hmm..."

"Yes, Prongs? What has the oh so mighty leader of the Marauders come up with in his devious mind?"

James sighed, then said with a touch of confusion, hands waving in the air from nervousness, "I just don't get it, Padfoot; I mean, sure, some things have gone pretty bad in Lily's time-line, like what happened in Hogsmeade, but overall things seem to have improved significantly from our time-line..."

Sirius, unsure as to why James was confused, asked sarcastically, "And this...is bad why?"

James rolled his eyes, thinking for a moment, then decided to try and explain his unease the best he could, saying seriously, "OK, Padfoot, think about it; in comparison to our time-line, while the future Order of the Phoenix hasn't really changed all that much, with the exception of Lily not joining, a fair number of people who were going to be Death Eaters in our time-line seem to have joined this little group of Mary's, as have a lot of the people who stayed neutral...until You-Know-Who decided that they were better dead than alive..."

Sirius nodded carefully, still unsure where James was going with this, then listened as James continued, "...So why is this time-line still considered to be in the Dark Ages while our original time-line was considered benign? I mean, between this _Aduro Terranum_and Crouch's reorganization of the Ministry for a more militaristic footing, the Ministry almost has enough firepower to match the Death Eaters head-to-head WITHOUT the help of the Order of the Phoenix, let alone with."

Sirius nodded, then said, almost feeling his stomach throw up as he did so, "Yeah...while I think that Crouch still deserved a hexing, he certainly seems to have done a job ten times better than what Ol' Millie Bagnold did, and Mary and Snape, may they both rot in hell, have definitely built something that could probably have turned the tide on its own in our time-line."

James then shouted, almost angrily, jumping to his feet as he did so, "OK, so then what is the problem? WHY is the time-line in such rough shape!? What could possibly be the cause of the trouble that that time-line is having!?"

Sirius thought for a few minutes, trying to figure out what might be causing the discrepancy, but shrugged in the end, having no idea. Suddenly, the two men's contemplations were interrupted by the sound of a soft, feminine voice, saying with a light giggle, "Silly mortals, trying to decipher something beyond your understanding; how foolish of you!"

The two men turned, only to see a girl floating behind them, no more than three inches off of the ground, 'sitting' in mid-air; she had short black hair, curious blue eyes, a small nose and a generally inquisitive face, with three silvery arrows on it, one on each side of her eyes, pointing to her ears, and one on her forehead, pointing to the top of her head.

Her skin was clearly recognizable as Asian in descent, and her figure was clearly feminine, having small breasts and the hips of a girl who had just passed puberty, but she was short, no more than five feet tall, and while she appeared to be in her late preteens or early teens, her eyes had an age to them that belied her appearence. She wore teal robes, simple sandals and had a single, small violet threaded through the right side of her hair, just above her air.

As they completed their appraisal, the girl giggled again, sounding almost like a thousand schoolchildren in her giddiness, mocking them with her laughter, then said with a mischievious grin, "You two...even after two lifetimes each, you fail to understand the consequences of people's actions, at least, in any real way!"

Sirius then bristled, disliking how what appeared to be a mere slip of a girl was insulting them, so he shouted, "Of course we know! Don't you think we learned enough about it in our-"

He was suddenly interrupted by being turned into a dog, and not his normal black, shaggy dog form, but a Jack Russel Terrier as a puppy; the girl positively howled with laughter for several minutes as he ran, while James cringed, wishing that he still had his wand, then she said in a voice that, while still laughing, had a tone of power behind it that screamed 'Don't mess with me.', "Silly mortal, thinking that you understood the whole picture, when you have only seen a glimpse of it! However, your foolishness has been quite amusing to me, so I suppose that enlightening you might be a fair trade..."

Suddenly, Sirius was turned back to a human, although unfortunately it was upside-down, and six inches off of the ground, causing him to moan upon crashing back to the ground. After laughing a little more, the girl then said, smirking, "How to explain this...I know! OK, picture each time-line as a road, with many forks, some rough patches, some obstacles and some smooth sections, got it? Now, when we send someone back, they typically try to relive their life, but better, right?"

The two men looked at each other, then back at the perky girl, nodding slowly in agreement, remembering their own time-lines. The girl then 'stood up', still floating in mid-air, then put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, grinning at them, as she continued, "Now, for some time-lines, that does work successfully, for example, your friend Remus' time-line, but in most time-lines things don't turn out quite like that. You see, using the road analogy, Lily's time-line took a left at one of the forks while your original time-line took a right."

Thinking he had some idea of what the girl meant, James then said slowly, with a bit of confidence, "So, in other words, she ruined the time-line by making that left turn?"

The girl then glared at him, before saying sarcastically, "I see that the two of you really do have a lot in common, especially when it comes to your intelligence, or lack thereof. You completely missed the point in what I was saying; it isn't that Lily's time-line was ruined, per se, but rather that comparing it to your original time-line is similar to the Muggle analogy in your world of 'comparing apples and oranges'. As such, anything that happened in your time-line is now meaningless, which makes most of our contingency plans useless-"

Sirius then frowned, before interrupting, "Contingency plans? Wha?"

Glaring at him angrily, the girl paused for a moment, before grinning wickedly; Sirius had a very bad feeling, before noticing a shadow on the ground around him. Looking up, he saw what appeared to be a massive anvil high overhead. 'Uh-oh, this is probably going to hurt...a lot...'

-CRUNCH-

James winced as what appeared to be a twenty-ton or so anvil dropped onto his best friend, much to the amusement of the girl. A split second later, the anvil vanished, and Sirius reappeared right where he had been sitting before, sweating nervously, with James profusely thanking the fact that any damage the body took in the afterlife was instantly repaired, with no aftereffects. The girl then burst into laughter, crying from what appeared to be sheer joy as she said, "Those Muggles...genius! I should...have done that...DECADES ago! I LOVE DISNEY!"

After about five minutes, the girl then continued with her story, still looking at Sirius and periodically giggling, "OK, a bit of background: you may consider me to be one of the angels of fate, although not as high up as the one that sent you to your 'new' time-lines. Unlike him, I can't affect the time-line as directly, but I have my own powers. You see, while I can't affect free will, I can have an effect on chance, 'loading the dice' so to speak, understand?"

As the two quickly nodded, not wanting to get on the bad side of this girl, who was clearly half-mad, she smiled, then said, "Well, anyway, for most time-lines, we craft a set of contingency plans to maintain their stability, nothing you mortals would probably notice mind you, but having an effect all the same. In your time-line for example, the 'prophecy' involving your son, Harry, was actually an example of one of those contingency plans, chosen for three reasons, one being obvious: to give Voldemort a chance to screw himself over."

For a moment, Sirius looked like he wanted to ask a question, but decided against it, clearly remembering the anvil, then the girl, pleased, continued, "The other reasons weren't quite so critical to the fate of the world, but what were intended to be a nice side benefit, actually being related to you, Jamesie, and Mr. Snape."

At James' stunned disbelief, the angel-girl's smile broadened, before chuckling and saying, "Come now, James, did you really think that the old saying of 'what goes around comes around' was a joke? You and your little band of Marauders did more damage to your original time-line than any ten Death Eaters COMBINED!"

At that, Sirius jumped back up, insulted, but James was the one who roared first, "What the HELL do you mean by that!? We saved no less than ten people as Aurors, and captured no less than three Death Eaters, so how dare you insult-"

-CRUNCH- -WHAM- WHAM- -WHAM-

Sirius shuddered as no less than four anvils slammed on top of James, then on top of each other, burying him in metal, before vanishing and leaving a very much shaken James Potter. The girl then said icily, clearly getting annoyed, "Would you like me to explain, or would you prefer more anvils?"

In a much smaller voice, James whispered, "Explain please, no more anvils."

Smiling as she patted him on the head, she said with a chuckle, "Good little mortal. Now, while I will admit that your careers as Aurors weren't that bad, the damage I am referring to occured in your school days. You see, your 'Marauders' became the role models for most of Gryffindor; the problem with that was what that meant: in your own self-righteousness, you decided that all Slytherins were evil, and had to be punished, while bullying most of the non-Gryffindors in the process."

James was starting to get a bad feeling as she then continued coldly, "Thanks to your efforts, and those of your house, any possibility of allies from Slytherin was completely destroyed, giving Voldemort a veritable hotbed of Death Eater recruitment, while you made most of the students in the other houses decide that it was better to be neutral than to join a group consisting of jerks like you. Pretty much single-handily, you cut the number of possible allies to the side of the Light by about 30%, and increased the number of Death Eaters from Slytherin by 40%. Heck, in two-thirds of the time-lines where you DIDN'T exist, Voldemort was handily dealt with by 1982."

As James and Sirius looked at each other in dawning horror, the girl continued, saying in a voice without even a touch of humor, "Then there was the situation with your friend, Remus Lupin, and how you dealt with his being a werewolf; while we respect and admire your decision to become Animagi in order to make his time as a werewolf more bearable, what you did afterward was truly monstrous, even if you didn't understand the consequences of what you were doing..."

The girl, not even giving them time to consider, then said in a tone of raw anger, "Did you really think that risking the lives of all the people in Hogsmeade or on the Hogwarts ground when you went on your little monthly joyrides was something that was a good thing? We lost no less than two time-lines because your pet werewolf attacked someone who wasn't supposed to die or get turned! Then, once the Snape boy started investigating, rather than realizing that the reason that you would have been punished if he caught you was because you were doing something you weren't supposed to, you nearly get HIM killed with a 'prank' before getting cold feet at the last minute! THEN you lied about it and did your best to destroy his relationship with his best friend so that YOU could win her over!"

Sirius bristled at that, saying angrily, "Hey! He did some pretty awful things as well, what with him joining the Death Eaters and all!"

The angel seemed to be considering whether or not to hit him with another anvil, then said calmly, "We know he did, and that was the third factor in the choice of that contingency plan; it was to be his chance to redeem himself by rescuing the one he loved, while trying to save the one she loved in spite of his hatred, and saving the world in the process, while James was to get HIS chance to die valiantly, for his redemption..."

She then glared at James one more time, before saying witheringly, "However, in your particular time-line, you forgot to bring your wand, meaning that YOU couldn't make use of the Blood Charm that you and Lily had just so happened to learn together while trying to get extra credit in Charms your seventh year, so our contingency plan didn't quite succeed the way it was intended to. Ironically, had you not attacked, then Voldemort, 'knowing' that his final victory was at hand, probably would have given you the chance to live, or at least, to duel for your life, in his own twisted form of 'mercy."

As James and Sirius looked gobsmacked, James because he had been apparently been sentenced to die, the angel-girl, clearly annoyed, then said, "OK, now to get back on topic, the reason that Lily's time-line has a rating of 'Dark Age' is because the time-line is, thanks to her efforts, so much in flux that we can't really predict it..."

Rubbing her head for a moment, muttering something about stupid mortals, the girl then said, "OK, remember what the two of you learned about Nexuses? Well, when powerful Nexuses are combined, they frequently become capable of altering the time-line in very significant ways very easily, at least until they have been defined. For example, we can now predict and understand the effect that Voldemort will have on the time-line, at least mostly."

She then glared at Sirius, causing him to swallow nervously, before she said furiously, "However, thanks to YOUR counterpart and his little 'prank', as well as Dumbledore's folly, Lily, Mary and Severus have combined their Nexuses while staying seperate from the two main forces in the war, creating a Super-Nexus in the process. Unfortunately, we can't even remotely predict what this particular Super-Nexus will do, as it could very easily go against either Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, or Voldemort and his Death Eaters, so there are NO real contingency plans, making the time-line incredibly unstable."

At their utter shock, the angel-girl then explained, groaning in frustration, "Thanks to Lily, Mary now has become a Nexus of great power, while Lily and Severus are still mighty Nexuses themselves. As such, the combination now has the strength to literally determine the fate of their entire world..."

As the girl, glaring one last time at the pair of them, floated into the sky, James looked at Sirius, then said worriedly, "That sounds...very, very bad..."

Sirius nodded, then said seriously, "I agree, Snape in charge of the fate of a time-line? We are all doomed..."

James then rolled his eyes, while thinking to himself, 'Sometimes, even though he is my best friend, Padfoot can be really, REALLY thick...'

* * *

**Author's Note: **I should apologize for allowing Sirius to, 'literally', get bashed the way he was in this chapter, but I do hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it, so I won't. I do hope that you guys enjoyed the new OC, another of the angels of fate in the afterlife, and I hope that it gives a nice bit of perspective on some things.

Remember, in canon, Severus knew, or at least strongly suspected, that Lupin was a werewolf before he even set foot in the Shrieking Shack, so the prank clearly wasn't designed to keep Severus from discovering that fact, even if he hadn't nearly been killed by Lupin. As such, I find that I have very little liking for the Marauders in canon for what they did in that incident.

Now then, here is a summary of what happened in the other time-lines since Chapter 37:

In Remus' time-line, Severus, in spite of his suspicions of Dumbledore, brought no less than ten Slytherins into the Order of the Phoenix, as well as five Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, nearly doubling their numbers while significantly cutting into the number of Slytherins who went Death Eater, with many of the ones who would have become Death Eaters deciding to remain neutral. Lily and Severus started dating mid-sixth year, and, after graduation, Severus and Lily had a two-year long courtship and engagement before marrying in the fall of 1979, right after Halloween, then Lily became pregnant with a daughter, Eileen.

In spite of Voldemort's strength, his Death Eaters were slowly but surely ground down, with the majority of them dying or ending up in Azkaban, until Voldemort got wind of a prophecy, similar to the canon one. Unlike in canon though, Severus, being given one last chance by Voldemort to change sides, refused, sacrificing himself for Eileen and Lily's sake, resulting in both of them living, but Severus dying valiantly. Remus unfortunately dying in one of the last battles of the war...This time-line has been upgraded to a 'Golden Age' Rating...

In Severus' time-line, he remains a spy for the Order of the Phoenix, pretending to the other former Death Eaters that he has only grafted onto Lily and Harry for the additional power that comes from being a family member of the Boy-who-Lived; unlike in canon though, although he is still forced to favor Slytherin as part of his role as a spy, he is generally a happier person. When Harry arrives at Hogwarts, he asks the sorting hat to put him into Slytherin like his dad, ending up making the 'Golden Trio', like in canon, but with a twist, as Draco replaces Ron in the ranks of Harry's friends.

With the advantage of remembering what had happened in his previous life, Severus thwarts Quirrell easily, but, rather than allowing Voldemort to escape, he binds Voldemort to Quirrell permanantly, before having a Dementor suck out both of their souls, effectively killing Voldemort once and for all. That same year, the second beaming smile on Severus in nearly thirty years is seen (The first being when Lily agreed to marry him), when he discovers that Lily became pregnant over Christmas Break of Harry's first year... This time-line is still a 'Golden Age' Rating...

In Peter's time-line, Peter, remembering what the Death Eaters will eventually do, helps Severus and, to his surprise, Arcturus steer clear of the Death Eaters, with Lily's help, while helping Severus craft a power-base within Slytherin that provides an in-house rival to the Knights of Walpurgis. Peter, learning a bit about true bravery with the help of his friends, who help him fight off no less than ten Knights, decides to challenge the Marauders to 'war', eventually winning, much to the Marauders' displeasure. Thanks to his efforts, that time-line has been upgraded to a 'Bright' Rating...

As for the Voting on final pairing...

**_THE PAIRINGS POLL HAS RETURNED FOR THE FINAL CHOICE! _**

_**WARNING:** IF YOU VOTED IN THE LAST POLL (The one between Chapters 15-25), YOU WILL HAVE TO VOTE AGAIN UNFORTUNATELY. I LOST SOME OF THE NUMBERS ON WHO VOTED IN THAT POLL._

**The three pairing options are listed below; indicate your vote in your review or by PM(Only one vote per person is allowed). Most of the votes will only count as one vote, but, if you make a thoughtful and compelling argument in your review/PM, I will count your vote for double (If the argument sucks, it will still count for one vote, so it's win-win!)**

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved: 9

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world): 6

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only: 2

**Bear in mind, in addition to the pairings being different, the story will also continue differently depending on what pairing is chosen. Choose carefully, and enjoy!**


	48. Of Love and Parents

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 48**

**Of Love and Parents**

_Our bond, twice-broken, will never be shattered again, Severus..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series or Yours, Mine and Ours.**_

**_Ten Days Later Saturday December 19th, 1975_**

Mary almost wanted to laugh as she listened to the woman who was helping her finish up the agreement that she would present to Celeste; she had been expecting that, like in the Muggle legal system, the adoption process would be rather long and complicated, but, to her surprise, it was almost sad how quick and easy it was.

For Merlin's sake, even though she wasn't the actual adopting party, it was quite acceptable for her to handle hammering out the agreement as long as she got the OK from both parties within thirty days. Mary then shrugged, while thinking to herself with a mental smirk, 'Ah well, that gives me plenty of time to persuade my parents...'

Ever since Celeste had decided to stop her attempts to pursue Severus, which had been something that had REALLY annoyed Mary at the time, she had become Mary's closest female after Lily, as her friendship with Sabrina was still on the rocks, as while she had stopped trying to get Lily in trouble, she wasn't doing anything to stop the Lily's housemates from half-killing her.

Because of that, as well as general concern about what would happen to a fifteen-year old girl during Winter and Summer breaks, Mary had decided that having her parents adopt Celeste was the right thing to do, especially because her parents had been mentioning that they had always wanted a second child...

Admittedly, she should have asked her parents' permission ahead of time, but she had sorta felt them out for a few weeks beforehand, and was having Celeste stay at her house to help them all get to know each other better.

'Hmm...' Mary mused as the lawyer left, leaving the contract behind her for Mary to look at, 'I probably should have told my parents some time ago now that I think about it, but I wanted to make sure that Celeste was on board first, and then I've been so busy planning about how to deal with the whole 'Lily' situation and helping Celeste deal with her rape and abandonment...Still, telling them ahead of time probably would have been for the best...'

Ever since she had been informed of her disownment and abandonment by her family, Celeste's usual calm demeanor had all but vanished, replaced instead by a hot-headedness and combatativeness that rivaled Sirius Black. She had been given detention no less than three times for provoking fights, although Mary suspected that at least one of those was because the Gryffindors had been messing with Lily...AGAIN.

However, once Mary had told her last week about her plan to have her parents adopt her, Celeste had, more or less, returned to normal, becoming the somewhat air-headed girl that everyone in _Terranum _knew and loved once more.

Speaking of Lily, Mary was glad that she had joined their little planning sessions, as they had finally come up with a plan in case the Gryffindors didn't cool down after the Holidays to stop their bullying, and it wasn't even dangerous, not that the Gryffindors knew that...

Mary stretched to alleviate the cramping she had gotten, without even realizing it, from listening to a lawyer speak for nearly two hours straight, then she thought to herself with great chagrin, 'In hindsight, It's a good thing that Selene stopped me last year; the stuff I would have used then and was planning to use now could easily have killed the Gryffindors with weak constitutions, according to Lily. A potion that mimicks the effects of a rather potent strain of Influenza, even if it was only temporary, could have easily killed quite a few of them. After all, when the Spanish variety hit towards the end of 1918, it killed more people than all of World War I, at least, from what Lily told me...'

Mary shivered at her close call; just because she was really, REALLY ticked off at Gryffindor didn't mean that she thought that all of them deserved to die...although she wouldn't mind it if most of them ended up in the Hospital Wing for a few days...

* * *

"OK, if 5x=3x+10, then what is x equa-"

-DING-DONG-

Petunia Evans sighed, annoyed at the doorbell's interruption; although she wasn't half as good at scholastics as her picture-perfect little sister, that didn't mean that she wasn't just as studious as the 'better' sister. She had excellent grades, although not as perfect as Lily's, and generally worked herself as hard as she could in order to get them. 'Besides, if Lily's SOOO special, why can't she get the door when one of HER friends comes over?'

Taking a moment to scowl upstairs at where Lily had said she was busy working on some goop for her potions class, Petunia walked briskly over to the front door, fully intending to give whatever freak her sister had asked to come over a piece of her mind; she then filled her lungs, ready to start shouting, before almost slamming the door as it opened, before suddenly deflating in embarrassment.

For standing there was a young man, maybe a year or two younger than Petunia, who, while admittedly having hair that was somewhat greasy and a bit of a hooked nose, was well dressed, in brown pants and a green polo shirt, and was, overall, not so bad on the eyes. However, what made him quite attractive, even somewhat sexy in Petunia's eyes, was the veritable aura of quiet confidence and determination he seemed to exude.

Suddenly he spoke, and Petunia found herself dumb-struck, as he said with a touch of sarcasm, looking at her with a touch of wariness in his dark eyes, "Petunia...I believe that Lily said that I am a guest; most guests aren't prevented from entering by the hostess, correct?"

His words were somewhat harsh, but Petunia didn't really care, as his voice was positively silky, and made her recall depictions of swooning romance novel heroines. Was she herself in danger of swooning? Petunia didn't know, nor did she care as she felt somewhat weak in the knees from merely listening to him. Realizing that she, as the young man had said, was being terribly rude, she smiled, blushing, and said sheepishly, "Err, sorry about that; please, do come in."

As he, dragging a fairly-new trunk behind him, walked in while looking at her with a hint of suspicion, Petunia tried to recall who Lily had said would be coming; based on his appearence, it wasn't one of her friends from that freaky school of her's, as they couldn't dress normally if you paid them twenty pounds. Perhaps it was one of her old school chums, from before she went to that HOGWARTS place.

Regardless, Petunia grinned behind his back; with Lily, from what she recalled, chasing after that Snape boy, that meant that the rest of her friends were perfectly alright for Petunia herself to pursue as, while she was dating Vernon, she wasn't sure if she really liked him THAT much yet. Glancing up at the ceiling and whispering words of thanks to the heavens, Petunia then smiled coyly and said softly, "Allow me to assist you with those; after all, you are the guest..."

The young man looked at her quizzically, then shrugged, saying in that same knee-buckling tone of silkiness, "Very well then, could you let Lily know that I am here?"

Petunia grabbed his luggage, then said "One moment.", before shouting upstairs, "Hey, LILY! Your friend's here!"

As she heard her sister's running, Petunia smiled towards the young man, trying to...position herself to best effect as she leaned against the wall, before saying coyly, "Our guest bedroom is upstairs, down the hall and on the left, right next to-"

Lily then, having clearly ran as fast as she could to reach the bottom of the stairs, then said something that made Petunia turn positively scarlet, "Hey, Sev! Come on, the potion's almost halfway done!"

As the young man, Severus Snape apparently, walked upstairs, Lily chatting brightly as she followed him, which he responded to with a rather measured calmness, Petunia thought that she was going to be sick...

* * *

"So, Remus, how has your term been going? Did you meet any cute girls?"

"MOTHER!" Remus blushed, before trying to avoid the conversation by taking a quick gulp of tea, while thinking of a particular Hufflepuff sixth-year that he had been keeping his eyes on: Teresa Goodwiche, a half-blood who had actually been born and raised less than twenty miles from Hogwarts, although not in Hogsmeade.

She wasn't the most attractive, as her brown hair was almost always messy, part of the reason he suspected that she kept it in a ponytail, but she had kind brown eyes and nice pale, smooth skin, that he sometimes daydreamed about running his hands all over; he wondered if she liked him, considering how she would usually wink back when she caught him staring at her, and how she had asked him if she could come along with him and the rest of the Marauders to Hogsmeade sometime.

As Remus mused, his mother, a middle-aged Muggleborn witch with long, brown hair, blue eyes and an abundance of laugh lines, then said teasingly, "Based on that blush, I'd say that our little Remus has a bit of a crush, wouldn't you agree, Erwin?"

Remus' father, a man with short reddish-brown hair and a serious visage, even if his eyes seemed to have a spark of laughter in them, then said, not quite able to hide his amusement, "Now Maria, don't tease your son..." Remus quietly breathed a sigh of relief as he took another sip, only for him to barely keep himself from spewing it out when his father said calmly, "So, does she have a nice set of knockers, Remus?"

Obviously noticing the wicked gleam in his wife's eyes, Mr. Lupin then said quickly, "Only joking, Maria, only joking...In all seriousness though, have you made any new friends lately?"

After giving her husband one last glare of pique, Mrs. Lupin then said in a bit of a huff, "I certainly hope he did, and that he got rid of that git, Sirius Black while he was at it!"

As Remus looked down, feeling a bit dejected, Mr. Lupin then said with a slight hiss, "Maria! You know that its Remus' decision about that; we can't choose his friends for him! Let's not argue about this-"

However, Mrs. Lupin interrupted angrily, "It may be his decision, but it is certainly a poor one if you ask me! That boy could have cost Remus his education, possibly got him chucked in Azkaban, for the sake of a mere prank! Same with that other boy, James Potter! Remus, you remember what you had to go through after you were bitten; how can you stay friends with a pair of boys who thought letting you bite someone else like that was funny!?"

"Maria!"

While the two of them continued their argument, the same one that they had had ever since last fall, when James and Sirius had pulled that prank upon Snape, and had only increased in volume in frequency since they had heard what had happened at the end of last term, Remus walked upstairs to his room, then sat down on the bed, sighing.

What his mom and dad were saying was all well and good, but people like him just couldn't make that many friends, nor girlfriends for that matter,especially ones that would accept his 'furry little problem'. If he gave up on James and Sirius, who would want to be friends with him?

Besides, he was certain that James had been very sorry for what had happened the first time, and he was pretty certain that Sirius was sorry; it wasn't even their fault this time, but some other moron who had been trying to pull a prank on Snape and had somehow found out about his being a werewolf. Of course, unlike Dumbledore, Remus didn't have all the facts, but he knew for a fact that none of his friends were responsible this time around.

'Still,' Remus mused, 'it would be nice to have more friends, perhaps even a girlfriend...'

* * *

**_Two Days Later Monday December 21st, 1975_**

"Mmm-mmm-mmm..." Severus suppressed a small chuckle as he listened to Lily humming slightly in her sleep, basically spooning with Severus as both of them laid down on the couch, although her head was resting on his shoulder, while she clutched his right hand to her chest with both of her's, recalling to Severus' mind a certain small, red-headed girl with her stuffed bear.

The two of them had been watching a Muggle movie together, Yours, Mine and Ours; it was a comedy, and, although he considered it a bit silly at first, unable to even imagine how either of the two families had had more than seven children apiece, Severus had found himself rather enjoying the movie in the end.

Even though he couldn't even dream of a combined family of eighteen children, the depiction of the family reminded him a bit of the fantasy he sometimes had of what his family would look like, although the wife he pictured, even if he wasn't quite sure what color hair she would have, would probably be a bit...domineering than the woman in the film.

Still, although he wasn't sure that he would make that great of a dad, especially given his own father, Severus hoped that his children would look up to him, much like Lily and Mary looked up to their respective parents. Speaking of which, he remembered the confrontation he had witnessed the day he arrived between Lily and her mother, which still brought a smile to his face as he thought of how Lily had defended him...

_Flashback Saturday December 19th, 1975_

_As Severus was unpacking his trunk, putting the Muggle clothing that he and Mary had purchased together over the Summer, he suddenly heard the sounds of someone storming up the stairs, anger easily discernable in the clomping he or she was making. Severus was wondering what it was all about when he heard the sound of Lily's voice, saying cheerfully, "Hey, mum, what's going on?"_

_Not quite as cheerfully, Lily's mother, Marigold, then said sternly, "If you'll excuse me, Lily, Severus Snape and I need to have a little chat about what happened last Summer! How dare he ignore all the letters of my little girl!?"_

_Severus flinched in terror, as he already regretted how he had avoided even looking at any of Lily's letters over the Summer, as it turned out that he had spent two months being angry and hurt over something that hadn't even been Lily's fault; however, if Mrs. Evans asked him why he had acted the way he had, he wouldn't be able to answer, as while Mary had become an honorary Auror, and was thus able to ignore the contract magic that Dumble had forced upon the both of them, he was still strictly bound by its terms, and Lily's mother was rather frightening when she was angry..._

_Luckily, Lily seemed to understand instantly, as he heard her say worriedly, "Wait, mum! There's something that you need to understand first..."_

_As the footsteps stopped, Severus crept over to the door, then opened it a crack, curious about the conversation that they were having, he then heard Lily saying quietly, "...to contract magic, Severus really is unable to tell you anything about what had happened at the end of last term, and that's why he was angry at me..."_

_Marigold then whispered something, so low that Severus couldn't hear or hear it, but Lily then said solemnly, "Trust me, mother, it was really, REALLY bad what he thought that I had tried to do to him, and all the evidence pointed straight at me; hell, without realizing it, I all but told him I was responsible, even though I wasn't, simply due to my misunderstanding his and Mary's questions..."_

_Lily then said softly, in a voice that was almost too quiet for him to hear, "It wasn't until very recently that I was able to prove my innocence, but he and Mary had decided to give me the benefit of the doubt nearly a month in advance, something which, until recently, I don't think that I would have been able to do..." _

_Lily then paused, before saying fiercely to her mother, "...So don't you dare even suggest that it was even remotely his or Mary's fault! It was all thanks to that git, Sirius Black, who played that so-called 'prank' in the first place. In fact, if you can avoid it, please don't mention it at all; it's just too painful for the three of us, what happened that night..."_

_Marigold then said quietly, "OK, Lily, mum's the word..."_

_End Flashback:_

Severus really couldn't have been prouder of how Lily had defended him to her mother; while most wouldn't have been so impressed, Severus still shivered when he recalled the time that he and Lily had replaced Petunia's shampoo with a potion that slowly, over the course of several hours, gave her hair the appearence of her having gotten zapped by a truly incredible level of static electricity.

Mrs. Evans hadn't hurt them or anything mind you, but she had yelled at them for nearly ten minutes straight, then, with Severus' ears still ringing, she had given them her punishment: they had to make, from scratch, enough shampoo and conditioner for Petunia for the next three years, paying for all the ingrediants out of their own pockets. While, unlike his father, he respected Mrs. Evans very much, Severus would still freely admit that he was terrified of her whenever she was-

Severus then stopped as thre things happened, almost simultaneously: first, Lily had said his name, breathlessly, in her sleep, moaning slightly as she did so, and secondly, at the same time, she had snuggled even closer to him, while most importantly of all, the hand of his that she had been clutching to her chest had been all but mashed into the cleavage between her breasts.

All of this put him into a bit of a problem; while he, as any sane teenage boy would be in his opinion, was positively thrilled at the fact that he was getting to touch Lily's breasts, even if wasn't on purpose, he was quite certain that, upon waking up, Lily would kill him. Although she had told him that she loved him, and he returned the feelings, he didn't think that it was equal to an all-access pass to her breasts, especially not when she was asleep.

This feeling of growing terror was countered by another set of thoughts, the ones coming from his...other brain, which was getting rather excited to say the least; these thoughts basically consisted of _"I'm touching Lily's breasts. I'm touching Lily's breasts! I'M BLOODY TOUCHING LILY EVANS' BREASTS!"_, and were quite distracting to his regular brain's thoughts, even if they were quite...interesting to say the least.

Now, under most circumstances, Severus, having a great deal of respect for Lily's personal space, and not trying to be a pig in any way, unlike certain people...Sirius Black for example, would have removed his hand from Lily's bosom after a few seconds. However, the problem was that she had him held there so tightly that, when he tried to extricate himself, his hand was getting forced back into her chest by her sleeping hands even tighter than it had been before he tried to escape his...very soft prison.

He suspected that the level of force necessary to get out of her grasp would wake her up, and he didn't want to interrupt her sleep, as she had been very tired lately...although he did have a suspicion that this reasoning was merely his lower brain justifying itself in its urging him to spread his hands out a bit more...

Sighing, Severus then whispered, looking up at the ceiling as he did so, hoping that it was possible for him to receive some form of response, "Merlin? God? Anyone? Why have you all forsaken me?"

Complete, utter silence, not even interrupted by Lily's previous humming anymore, was the only thing that answered him...

* * *

Lily, who had been woken up the first time that Severus had tried to remove his hand, had to bite back a chuckle as she heard Severus' whispered pleading; she might have been offended, thinking that he wasn't interested in her, if she hadn't noticed a rather strong sign of approval attempting to burrow itself into her thigh, making her grin wickedly as she thought to herself, evaluating his 'sign of approval', 'Hmm, not bad, not bad at all!'

Ever since Severus had decided to spend the holidays at her house, thanks to the fact that he had wanted Mary and Celeste to spend time with Mary's parents, slowly working them over until they agreed to adopt Celeste, Lily had been trying to figure out how best to take advantage of the situation. After all, Severus spent most of each year in the same house as Mary, since both were Slytherins, so taking advantage of time spent alone with him was quite crucial to success.

In the end, after considering a lot of options, Lily had decided that the best way to proceed with her quest to get Severus to choose her, considering her still-weak flirting skills, was to act as if he was her boyfriend and she was his girlfriend, in everything but name, in an effort to make it reality.

Noticing out of the corner of her barely opened eye that Severus seemed to be on the verge of panicking, Lily decided to take pity on him and, still holding his hand in her right, stretched and said sleepily, "That was a nice movie, wasn't it, Sev?"

As Severus quickly calmed down, although she could still feel that parts of him were very excited, Lily then asked, curious, "So, Sev, are you ready for our big trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow?"

In addition to the normal last-minute Christmas shopping, Lily and Severus also had some real work to do; as part of his duty as the leader of _Terranum_, now that Mary had taken control of the parent organization, Severus had been working on a pet project of his for months: equipping the soon-to-be army that _Aduro Terranum _was destined to become.

As Mary had put it to Minister Crouch, _"With Severus' frugality in handling the budget of this organization, we basically have money coming out of our ears, especially now that our sponser is the Minister of Magic; if we are going to be battling the Death Eaters head on, we are going to need to be equipped to do so..."_

After spending nearly four months carefully thinking it over, from what he had told Lily, Severus had come up with a list of equipment that he wanted each five-person group to have, in addition to their wands, in order to maximize their effectiveness. One of the things they would be doing while in Diagon Alley was inspecting the equipment that Severus had ordered for their organization, in order to make sure that it was all in working order.

It had made her quite happy when Severus and Mary, demonstrating their trust in her, had agreed to let her join Severus in his inspection, as technically she probably shouldn't have been given permission.

It had been the same way when Severus and Mary had taken the time to carefully explain all of their plans, and the reasonings for those plans, that they had been working on, both the contingency plans _Daemonrime _and _Burning Aegis_, and their ideas for their...vendetta against Dumbledore. While Lily didn't agree with them when they said that he deserved Azkaban, she had decided to let it slide, at least for now...

Breaking into her thoughts, Severus then said, smiling slightly while periodically glancing at his right hand, the one which had been touching her breasts, causing Lily to blush, "Yeah, after we finish the inspection, we should still have plenty of time to get our shopping done. Now then, would you mind getting off of me so I can make us a snack? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Lily's blush deepened as her stomach chimed in with a growl, clearly agreeing with Severus' sentiment, then she said, attempting to sound elegant as she got off of him, "I believe that would be acceptable, Severus."

Although Severus smile still wasn't that wide, Lily could easily see the spark of mirth dancing in his dark eyes as he said, pompously, "Indeed, Miss Evans, indeed..."

She wanted to swat him, but settled for ordering him to make her a roast-beef sandwich instead...

**Author's Note: **I do hope that Petunia Evans' reaction to Severus was understandable; remember, she hasn't seen him for well over a year, and now he is much better dressed and isn't nearly as defensive as he used to be, having gotten a series of major confidence boosts. Given how she ended up marrying Vernon Dursley in canon, I don't think that Petunia cares as much about physical appearence as what the person is wearing and such, plus she hasn't had the chance to hear the Severus Snape Silky Voice of Female-Seduction yet...

As for Mary and Celeste, I'll bet that it comes as more than a bit of a surprise, but it's, in many ways, similar to what happened with Sirius Black in canon, except that Mary wants it to be on a more permanent basis.

As for Lily and Severus on the couch, I hope that it wasn't too fluffy, but the holidays are partially meant to be a bit of a break before the darkness kicks back up again, at least, most of the holidays...

Normally, I prefer to respond to reviews via 's reply function, but I am going to make an exception here to reply to Gobman's review:

_*cough* SUES! Marauder hate. Sure, they did bad things, but they also did really good things._

Snape did far worse things. All the things he did were his choice, even if he was picked on.

SUES!

**Long Rant Ahead**

Now, while I will admit that the OC might have been a bit Sue-ish, and I will freely admit to my bias against the Marauders, even if I feel that it is well-reasoned, I would like to point out that there is very little canonically that Snape did that was worse than the Marauders, with the possible exception of the Prophecy.

In addition, I would like to mention that the comparison between anything that Severus did in the first wizarding war, even before becoming a spy for the Light, and when he was in school is rather apples-to-oranges. Although the Death Eaters were admittedly disgusting in their objectives, the fact remains that, whichever side Severus was fighting on, he was fighting in a war, meaning that certain things (Killing and maiming one's enemies for example), are acceptable, even necessary.

Even mentioning the prophecy to Voldemort is acceptable in my opinion, especially if you consider it from a different point of view: what if the prophecy, rather than referring to Voldemort, had referred to Dumbledore? Would it have been the right thing not to mention it to him (This is assuming that Dumbledore was in Voldemort's shoes, not knowing the prophecy)? If it had referred to Dumbledore, wouldn't whoever had heard it been remiss in NOT mentioning it to him?

In contrast, what the Marauders did in the Shrieking Shack (Note: I am not going to mention the bullying in this particular section, as that was merely annoying to the Fate's plans) was against an innocent victim, NOT in a war. They, in order to continue their outings, which could have very easily resulted in people dying, as admitted by Remus in canon, tricked Severus into a life-threatening situation with a werewolf, then, after receiving what was likely a relatively minor punishment, they lied about it in an effort to make James look like the good guy and Severus the bad guy, clearly demonstrating that they weren't sorry about it in any real way (With the possible exception of Remus).

The things that Severus did might have been his choice, but his choice had been made into a truly abysmal one: on the one hand, he has his friends, who have been helping him all the time he has been at Hogwarts in all likelihood, and on the other hand, he has the people who have clearly demonstrated no real regard for his life, as well as those who had aided and abetted them. Honestly, even knowing just how bad the Death Eaters were, something which I suspect that Severus didn't, that is one hell of a hard choice.

Now then, having said all of that, I am pretty much talked out on this topic.

**Long Rant Over:**

As for the Voting on final pairing...

**_THE PAIRINGS POLL HAS RETURNED FOR THE FINAL CHOICE! _**

_**WARNING:** IF YOU VOTED IN THE LAST POLL (The one between Chapters 15-25), YOU WILL HAVE TO VOTE AGAIN UNFORTUNATELY. I LOST SOME OF THE NUMBERS ON WHO VOTED IN THAT POLL._

**The three pairing options are listed below; indicate your vote in your review or by PM(Only one vote per person is allowed). Most of the votes will only count as one vote, but, if you make a thoughtful and compelling argument in your review/PM, I will count your vote for double (If the argument sucks, it will still count for one vote, so it's win-win!)**

Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved: 20

Mary, Lily and Severus end up together in the end (Only answer this one if you feel that it would be reasonable for them to practice polygamy in the wizarding world): 9

Lily and Severus end up together in this time-line, but there is another one where he ends up with Mary only: 2

**Bear in mind, in addition to the pairings being different, the story will also continue differently depending on what pairing is chosen. Choose carefully, and enjoy!**

**_After reading the arguments carefully, and considering them thoroughly, as well as looking at the current polling results, I have decided that, unless one of the alternate pairings receives a sudden, MASSIVE increase in support, the polls will be closed at the end of the next chapter and the winner, most likely'_**Lily and Severus end up together in the end with no-one else involved**_' will be selected._**


	49. Of Books and Christmas

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 49**

**Of Books and Christmas**

_Knowledge is a tool, the question is how to use it..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

**_Four Days Later Wednesday December 23rd, 1975_**

Mary looked upon the group of three men and women that Mulciber had loaned her as penance, the Mulciber family's law team, and started considering them, looking at them one after another, trying to weigh their abilities through sight alone.

The first man, a middle-aged Spaniard with greying hair and piercing blue eyes, watched her calmly as he sat in a conjured straight-backed wooden chair, not even flinching at her look of frank appraisal, sniffing in annoyance even; his name was Roberto Sonrisarle, and he was officially the leader of the group. Mary nodded approvingly at him, liking the confidence and poise he demonstrated, and he accepted with a quick, concise nod.

In contrast, the second man looked to be in his early thirties, and he shifted around constantly, pacing around the room restlessly, glancing around the room and avoiding Mary's gaze to the point that she couldn't even tell if he had eyes or not; he was named Hubert Prewitt, and he, quite frankly, didn't impress her in the slightest, but Mary didn't think that she had much of a chance at getting anyone else quickly, so she, rubbing her forehead from the effort of trying to keep on eye on him, moved on to the third member of the group.

This woman, the only female in the group, possessed curly brown hair and wore a clearly pricy set of shimmering green robes; she seemed only a few years older than Mary, and looked straight back at her with eyes that were appraising Mary as much as Mary's eyes were appraising her. She had an air of sleaziness that was so thick about her that Mary, for a moment, wondered if it might be contagious and shivered; still, Mary couldn't see anything that really made her distrust Ms. Rita Skeeter apart from that.

Standing up, trying to conceal her nervousness, Mary walked briskly to the head of the large oaken table that dominated the small room that they had all agreed to meet in, then said quickly, "The three of you may be wondering why the Mulciber family has asked you all to come assist me, and why a teenage girl would require your assistance; the reason is quite simple..."

As Mary paused, the other people in the room leaned in a little, even Hubert, and they looked at her expectantly; swallowing, Mary continued, tossing something on the table as she did so, "It is because I am here, not as a teenage girl, but as an Auror! I am requiring your services on behalf of the Ministry in a criminal investigation!"

As the three looked at the object on the table, the Auror badge that she had been issued, then gazed back with a newfound wariness Mary continued stridantly, looking at each one in turn,

"The Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, is under investigation for, so far, two counts of attempted murder in the second degree, accomplice after the fact. Our evidence is fairly sound, consisting of the two victims, who have been put under contract magic to prevent the revealing of this crime by the Headmaster, as well as the original perpetraitor of the crime, Sirius Black, as well as one witness as of right now."

Both of the men gasped at this, much as Mary had expected, but Ms. Skeeter's eyes merely lit up; as the two men started conferring, moving closer to each other so that they could speak in whispers, Mary slapped the table and continued, causing the two men to refocus their attention on her, sneering as she leaned over the table,

"Unfortunately, as I am sure that all three of you are aware of, Dumbledore, in the eyes of the wizarding community, is something more than a saint and something less than a god, so, although our evidence is sound, it is unlikely that it would be able to uphold a conviction, as his reputation would likely win the court battle for him. This is where you come in..."

As Hubert and Roberto both nodded carefully, Ms. Skeeter's eyes, behind her rhinestone glasses, looked almost luminescent, and her face positively glowed with malicious glee, making Mary more than a little nervous. Nonetheless, she then said furiously, "Your job is to find every single criminal deed that Dumbledore has committed in his life, every scandal, every time he put one foot out of line! It shouldn't be that tough, after all, considering the horrors I am sure that he has done for the 'greater good', I'll bet that there are plenty of things for you to find. You have six months, now get to it!"

Leaving the three to their work, Mary left the pub the four of them had agreed to meet at and sighed, wondering aloud as she remembered some of the horrors SHE had committed, "I wonder how long it will be before somebody comes after me? After all, Dumbledore's not the only one who has and is likely to do many despicable things to win..."

She then shook her head, shrugging, "Oh well, I never really wanted to be a hero anyway, even when I was in Gryffindor..."

* * *

**_Two Days Later Friday December 25th, 1975_**

"So, Sev, how do you think Mary and Celeste are doing right now? Think that the Macdonalds are likely to adopt her?"

"Hmm...I'd say that the odds are pretty good; I mean, sure they prefer people with a bit more in the way of...street smarts, but Celeste is pretty good at dealing with people from what I've seen, and the parents love Mary to pieces, so yeah, it's pretty likely."

"True, but..." Petunia scowled as she sat on one of the dining room chairs, watching Snape and Lily sitting on the couch together, talking to each other, Lily with her almost-chattering questions and Severus with his calm, measured responses. It was in many ways like the last time that she had seen him, the summer before last, but in other ways it was completely different.

The last time, Severus had been glancing at her in a fearful longing, seeming unable to decide how close to her he wanted to sit, almost touching her periodically in places, such as the hands or the cheek, that were clearly beyond where a best friend would usually touch, while Lily had been confident, flashing him brilliant smiles and hugging him frequently, while completely missing the look in Severus' eyes, the slight glow that they only seemed to have when he was looking at her.

While they had been talking, much like now, although about a different subject, the air around them had been thick, charged with energy, having the potential for...something; it had been almost amusing to watch, as Severus seemed both scared and enraptured whenever Petunia looked at him, while Lily hadn't even seemed to notice, easily understandable because, although she tended to be very good at talking to people, she was often very easily deceived by appearences, and Severus was pretty good at concealing his emotions...

"They look good, don't they?" Petunia's thoughts were put on hold as she glanced to her right for a moment and saw her father standing beside her, leaning against the table casually as he looked at Lily and Severus; Lily seemed to be finding almost any excuse to touch Severus on the shoulder, arm or hand whenever they could, causing him to blush sometimes, with both of them smiling, slightly in the case of Severus, every time they looked at one another.

Petunia glared at them, then said petulantly, "Hmmph! He's still the same little runt that he was when we saw him the summer before last, just with better clothes! Nothing's changed, nothing at all!"

She heard the sound of her father, Richard, sitting down on the kitchen table, and could tell without even bothering to look that he had his eyes on her, then he said with a questioning tone of voice, "Is that what you really think, Petunia? He may be the same person, but do you really think that nothing has changed?"

Quickly grabbing a biscuit, Petunia chewed it slowly, hoping that he would go away, but as he showed no signs of leaving, Petunia finally said miserably, "No, you're right, he's changed..." She then chuckled bitterly, "Ironic, isn't it? He's finally become quite a catch, and NOW Lily snaps him up, taking the best for herself, just like always, and now that he's actually someone worth knowing, you guys are all for them being together..."

Richard then said nothing for several seconds, and Petunia turned, only to see him looking at her disappointedly. Petunia bowed her head, not liking it when she saw that look in his eyes, and he then spoke sadly, putting his hand on her shoulders as he did so,

"Petunia, we weren't against the idea of the two of them together because he had a rough childhood and rotten parents, but rather because Lily didn't realize how the boy felt about her. She had his heart right in the palms of her hands and didn't realize it; until she understood just how much he meant to her, she would only hurt him without understanding she was doing it. We couldn't support the idea of a relationship based off of that; Lily would have shattered Severus without even meaning to, unintentionally mind you, but she would. Even if we told her he loved her, that just wouldn't have been enough to show her just how much she meant to him..."

He then continued, more warmly, squeezing her shoulder slightly, "Look at them now though; Lily not only realizes that she holds his heart in her hands, she cherishes that fact, and would do anything to keep it safe. He is no longer afraid of his own feelings, but has admitted them, and is clearly proud to say he loves our daughter, and would tell the world if it proved necessary, rather than hiding from it."

Petunia watched as Lily opened a mid-sized package, clearly a gift from Severus; as the dusty, clearly ancient book fell out, Lily seemed to glow for a moment, then said gratefully, loudly enough that Petunia heard every word as if Lily was talking in her ear, "Sev, where did you find this!? It has to be nearly two centuries old!" Before Severus could even try to answer though, Lily had given him a hug, kissing him on the lips as she did so, causing the boy to flush beet-red, while Lily blushed pink.

Richard then chuckled, and Petunia turned to see him looking back at her, before he said with a smile, "You know, Petunia, I heard that Lily had some competition from some girl named Mary, but I doubt that she would even stand a chance, unless she is one hell of a woman..."

Suddenly, Lily, who had apparently walked over to show her father the book, said quietly, almost inaudibly, "The problem, dad, is that Mary really is one hell of a woman..."

Petunia then smirked, considering the possibilities...

* * *

**_One Day Later Saturday December 26th, 1975_**

Celeste stood in the doorway to her hopefully soon-to-be big sister's room, unsure whether she should come in as Mary was reading a letter that was clearly related to _Aduro Terranum _business. Admiring Mary's burning focus as she carefully looked it over, Celeste watched silently; one of the things that had made her the first choice to be the leader of the entire organization had clearly been Mary's ability to focus on a goal and achieve it, no matter what stood in her way, that and her ability to imbue the organization with her fury and rage.

Frowning at the doorframe, musing about whether or not that would be a bad thing in some cases, Celeste failed to notice that Mary had seen her until she suddenly felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning quickly, Celeste saw Mary standing right beside her with a frown, and Celeste glanced at the door, wondering if she should leave; however, Mary then said, assuaging her fears, "Is there a particular reason that you don't wish to come inside?"

Smiling, Celeste walked in and sat down on Mary's bed, a nice queen-sized one with white silk sheets just barely visible, peeking out from a corner of the bed that hadn't quite been made. Sitting on the green blanket, Celeste then said with a chuckle, "Not at all; what are you up to anyway?"

Shrugging as she sat beside her, Mary replied, "I was just taking a look at the report that Sev sent me about the equpment he has planned to supply us with; you can take a look at it if you want, as I'm already finished with it."

Seeing no reason not to, Celeste walked over to Mary's writing desk, a nice oaken roll-top thing, which had clearly seen a lot of use given the abundant scratches and little yellow paper-things hanging off of it with reminders and such on them, as well as the large quantity of knick-knacks that Mary had pushed to the side to give her room to work.

Picking up the letter, which had been carefully written, reminding Celeste with a pang of some of the reports she had seen her father working on, before he disowned her, she began to read, quickly realizing that, although all witches and wizards had their wands as a powerful tool, that clearly wasn't the only thing needed to equip a real army, at least, not in Severus' eyes. Towards the end though, she found something that confused her, and she asked aloud,

"Top speed of thirty miles per hour? What the heck is Severus thinking!? I mean, even the worst broom we use on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team has a top speed well in excess of fifty!"

Hearing a sigh behind her, Celeste turned to see Mary leaning over her shoulder to read; putting her finger to her chin, Mary frowned for a moment, then said understandingly, "Ah, I get his logic; he cut the speed of the broom to make room for all these additional charms, as he isn't going for a high-speed racing broom, but rather something else..."

Pausing for a moment, finger still on her chin, Mary then said carefully, "He's going for a broom that is designed for Air-to-Ground combat, something that can be used indoors or outdoors with great ease, while being excellent at surprising the enemies..."

Confused, Celeste asked curiously, "I understand the silencing charm and the shrinking charm, but why would a high-speed broom be a bad thing?"

Mary then chuckled, before walking back over to the bed and picking up the book that Severus had gotten her for her birthday yesterday, _Unleashing Your Inner Demons: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Fiendfyre And More!_, starting to read it while saying simply, "Imagine trying to go around our house in a racing broom..."

Celeste thought for a moment, then winced at the picture, before changing the subject, "Hey, Mary, why do you think that Severus got you that book?"

Mary glanced back at her, then said with a grin, "Well, I told Severus a couple weeks ago that I was looking for something that would give me an edge in combat against multiple foes, especially after Lily had that little battle with Sirius and co. Clearly, he thought that this might be a very good idea for fighting the Death Eaters...or the Order if it comes down to it, and it really is quite a fascinating read. Apparently, there is a lot of stuff that they 'forgot' to mention about it in those Restricted section books; you see-"

Pausing suddenly, Mary then said with a smile, getting back up, "By the way, I heard that your diary was used as evidence at the trial, right?"

Celeste nodded, glancing back while raising her eyebrows, then Mary said, chuckling, "Well, apparently Selene was really ticked off about what happened between us and Mulciber, so she sent some ancient, ruddy diary to me rather than one of her normal, expensive gifts. Would you like to have it?"

Glancing at the small, thin black book as Mary offered it to her, Celeste said, shrugging, "Eh, why not?" Opening the front cover to glance look through the diary, Celeste then paused and asked curiously, "Who's this T. M. Riddle guy?"

* * *

**_Two Days Later Monday December 28th, 1975_**

_...Idealie, when using this spel, one should focus entirely on the obgect that one wishes to destroie, preferablie imagining its shatterning..._

Although the English grammar and spelling was causing Lily's inner bookworm to cry out in utter suffering at its mauling of the English language, Lily found the book that Severus had gotten her for Christmas to be quite helpful indeed; most of the books that she had read had been designed to focus on the basic learning of the spells that the average witch or wizard was to know, but this one went particularly in-depth in its efforts to explain just how best to utilize each and every spell listed in its pages, focusing on explaining the inner workings of each and every spell therein, careful to mention the intent of all of them, which was critical to maximizing the effectiveness of every spell.

It really was quite a treasure, especially because Severus, like he always did, had apparently taken the time to read the book cover-to-cover, before going back and highlighting the sections that he thought she would like to read with a red, Muggle marker, both on the page itself and in the book's table of contents.

Suddenly, the sound of the door to her room opening interrupted her reading; looking over, Lily saw Severus walking inside calmly, glancing at the cauldron of Burn-Be-Gone that was bubbling merrily in the corner of her room, thanks to the fact that she had charmed her floor to be fireproof in order to make it not be a fire hazard. Lily then asked teasingly, moving closer to him as he sat down on the bed, until the two of them were shoulder-to-shoulder, "So, Sev, how is cooking with my sister going? Did she try to stick you in the frying pan?"

Severus, who had become a rather good cook on account of having to fend for himself when he was at home for the holidays, frowned, saying aloud in a tone of puzzlement, "It was...odd; she was actually...almost-nice, although she still doesn't like it when I talk about you very much...It was rather odd though when she started talking about how she thought she was settling with some Dursley bloke though, but it is better than her trying to evict me from the house whenever she sees me I suppose..."

Lily shrugged, smiling, not particularly knowing why Petunia had suddenly started being nice to Severus, but happy that she was doing it; she then asked Severus curiously, lying back down on her bed as she did so, "By the way, why do you think that Mary suddenly wanted me to make a bunch of anti-burn salve? I mean, I can understand why she was far too busy mentioning the progress to include the reason in her letter, but what do you think it was for?"

Severus then put his hands in his lap as he copied her, laying down beside her, before saying with a tone of mild worry, "I think that she might be trying to use what she found in the book on Fiendfyre I sent her; it shouldn't be too dangerous, assuming she follows the proper safety instructions, but still..."

The first time around in her life, Lily probably would have gone off on him for telling her that he was helping Mary to learn Dark Magic, but, especially with her experiences during the war in her past life and while talking to Severus and Mary in this one, she had come to realize something important.

While 'Dark Magic' was named for its focus on the utilization of the darker emotions, such as anger, hatred and malice, in its spells, that didn't necessarily mean that it was evil, as it was in the hands of the caster to decide how the spell was used. As such, Lily simply said softly, peacefully, "Huh, isn't Fiendfyre kinda dangerous though?"

She couldn't see his head, but she thought she could feel him nod through the shifting of the covers, and Severus said, equally simply, "It depends on the skill and willpower of its user; given Mary's level of self-confidence and determination, I doubt that she would be in any real danger..."

Starting to feel sleepy, both from the delicious aroma coming from the cauldron and the warmth that was provided by Severus' body, Lily then said sleepily, "Would you mind waking me up in a few minutes, Sev, when the potion is ready for the next step? I think that I am going to ta-take a s-short nap..." Yawning as she said the last bit, Lily turned herself slightly and rested her head on his left shoulder, smiling slightly as his left arm snaked around her body, resting on her right arm while cradling her upper body slightly...

She swiftly drifted off to sleep, frowning at the last minute while Severus said quietly, with a slight tone of affection in his voice, "I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait until I can see Mary again..."

* * *

**_Two Days Later Wednesday December 30th, 1975_**

Minister Crouch sighed as he finished reading the two letters he had received, one from Mary Macdonald and one from Albus Dumbledore; Mary's letter had informed him as to the fact that she had unilaterally begun an investigation into Dumbledore, although not on what grounds, claiming that she wanted to keep her reasons quiet until she had more evidence.

In contrast, Dumbledore, like in his letter to Crouch, had been quite aggrivating ever since the announcement of the Death Eater Suppression Act, claiming that the Ministry was going too far in its plans for the war and that by authorizing both the Aurors and _Aduro Terranum _to use the Unforgivables and giving them _Carte Blanche _to use any other Dark Arts spells that they might think were necessary, provided that they gave an explanation after the fact, it was making a huge mistake.

Most of all though, Dumbledore felt that the 'Surrender to the Ministry, or else!' plan that Crouch had used in the Death Eater Suppression Act was likely to provoke rather than delay the war both knew was coming. Between this and Dumbledore's general penchant for secrecy, Crouch could tell that any chance of Dumbledore's joining forces with the Ministry directly was highly unlikely, except for his age-old trick of having his little flock of sheep hiding inside the Ministry's forces, while remaining loyal to Dumbledore in secret. 'Not that this investigation by Mary would help matters anyway...or would it?'

Crouch paused, steepling his hands in front of his face while thinking carefully, sitting at his desk; while, unless he wanted to open up a monstrous can of worms, Dumbledore was all but untouchable by him directly, especially considering that both Dumbledore's lambs and Voldemort's minions were in agreement in opposing the Death Eater Suppression Act, if Mary were to actually gain sufficient evidence to convict Dumbledore, then that would give Crouch a great deal of leverage, as only the Minister himself could pardon Dumbledore if he were convicted...

Nodding to himself, Crouch started to pen his letter:

_Dear Ms. Macdonald;_

_Continue with what your letter indicated as planned; collect as much evidence as you possibly can, for, as I am sure that you can guess, Dumbledore will likely prove very hard to convict._

_Additionally, I wish for you to send me a copy of your plans for both _Daemonrime_ and_ Burning Aegis_ as soon as possible so that I may review them. Remember this however, you possess the resources of all of _Aduro Terranum_, not just the ones in _Terranum_, so I suggest that you plan accordingly._

_Sincerely, _

_Minister of Magic,  
Bartemius Crouch_

**Author's Note: **Not much to say; Mary intends to prosecute Dumbledore to the full extent of the law, Christmas passes, and Crouch gives the OK to Mary's plans, while the romantic war between Lily and Mary over Severus prepares to heat up. A word of advice, don't expect a quick and easy victory for Lily in this war, should she win at all...

**One reply incoming. I will ignore anything else on this topic.**

Sara, in response to your review, I want to be clear that I am referring to Severus' actions being judged by the rules of war rather than normal peacetime crimes; as such, it is truly an apples to oranges comparison.

For the Dumbledore versus Voldemort issue, I was merely pointing out how it would look if the same prophecy had been given to Dumbledore instead, as I wouldn't put it past him to kill a child for the greater good, if it proved necessary, as he had no qualms planning to use Harry as a human sacrifice for sixteen years.

Lastly, for the Shrieking Shack incident, while canonically it is unknown for certain if James was responsible, in this story I decided to have him culpable, which is why I referred to it in that way.

Do not forget, Severus was also getting punished by the angel-girl during canon according to this fic; it's merely that he wasn't there so the angel didn't bother to discuss it. As for why, I will leave that all up to you to decide.

I also agree to you that most of the Death Eaters deserve Azkaban, but in my opinion it is for their war-crimes, and not for merely fighting on Voldemort's side.

**Reply Over**

**_Any future replies in this topic will be ignored, as I have no interest in continuing a debate in it! You may disagree, but I would prefer that all future reviews refer to the STORY._**


	50. Entering the Inferno of War

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 50**

**Entering the Inferno of War**

_Haven't you heard? War is hell..._

_**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series.**_

**_One Week Later Wednesday January 6th, 1976_**

Mary swallowed hard as she focused hard on emotions she wanted to use for her summoning; Fiendfyre was high-level Dark Arts magic and was rarely if ever taught in schools, even Durmstrang, due to the sheer danger of doing so. Even using the normal protections, it wasn't something that would be considered by most schools prior to their seventh-year. After all, if the caster lost control, they would almost certainly lose their lives, the beasts of flame consuming their own creator.

In order to get in the right mindset for casting, as well as help fight off her nervousness, Mary sat on the ground and began to concentrate; swallowing, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply, then began to envision some of her nightmares. Ever since the end of her fourth year, Mary had been plagued by nightmares of what had happened, what could have happened, and what it meant to her. In some cases, Mary wondered if they might be prophetic in some ways.

Thinking carefully about what angered her most, Mary pictured the most common dream she had dreamed, one which never seemed to alter in any real way, then grinned maliciously. For a moment, nothing happened, then she felt a stream of fury coursing through her magic, the perfect source of power for Dark magic like Fiendfyre.

_Two teens, a boy and a girl were battling atop a red mass floating in midair, the girl firing her spells skillfully and the boy parrying them, then retaliating with furious attacks of his own; it was clearly a close battle, with the winner in doubt. Over time, both the boy and the girl caused significant damage to each other, but neither was able to obtain a conclusive victory..._

Feeling hatred and rage, malice and ruthlessness, all filling her magic, Mary jumped up and let out a roar that sounded like that of fire itself, inaudible words of power and destruction hissing in the flames, then a blast of flame erupted from her wand, slamming into the ground. For a split-second nothing happened, but then the fire split into a number of screeching figures made completely out of flame...

_Finally, both of the teens lowered their wands, then moved forward and shook hands in a truce, looking at each other warily, the brown-haired girl clutching her leg and the black-haired male holding his heart. With both clearly in pain, the girl turned, only to be attacked from behind by a jet of brownish light in the shape of a wolf, which she barely dodged. Turning back, furious, the girl pointed at the boy and shouted words which could not be heard. Simultaneously, she motioned at a silver-haired figure with a long, flowing beard off in the distance, who shook his head sadly..._

Now was the moment when anyone learning this spell would put up a magical barrier...or twenty, anyone except for Mary that is, for she had planned to take a completely different approach. She then grinned as the flames coalesced into the forms of beings that looked like demonic angels, fastening their eyes on her in an expression that lacked intelligence, but made up for it in pure malice...

_Suddenly, the boy unleashed another wolf-shaped blast of brownish energy. This sent the girl hurtling off of the giant red creature they had been battling on, which was revealed to be a phoenix. Laughing, the boy grinned and waved cheerily at her as she fell..._

_Snarling in rage, the girl roared in fury as she fell. No-one did anything to try and stop her descent, and she swiftly fell into darkness, so far that the phoenix was barely even a single red spot in the distance. After what seemed like a short eternity, Mary's fall seemed to slow down, then stop. As she looked around, Mary could see in front of her a single figure, concealing itself in the pitch-black void, save for its glittering golden eyes..._

Instead of planning to use a barrier to halt the monstrous firey horde, Mary intended to stop their offensive through sheer willpower; this was an exercise which was far more difficult than the normal training, but it would pay off in the future by granting her greatly superior control of the Fiendfyre, if she survived it that is...

_As the girl, recognizable as Mary now, seemed to be suspended in midair, she heard a feminine voice whisper. Her voice was filled with confidence, power and a small bit of tenderness as it said, "Worry not, for you have been blessed with many allies and comrades, and you shall get the chance to right this wrong and bring about justice to those who have denied it of you. However, the cost..."_

Barely dodging one of the hellish angels, Mary felt her skin already starting to be singed from her close proximity. Throwing herself to the ground as another one of them flew right overhead, she focused on the connection between her and the...things she had summoned. It was faint, barely there; however, without her magic being diverted to other tasks, she could just barely sense it.

While doing her best to avoid the fiery chorus of angels, Mary drew upon what was left of her self-control and pushed it into the connection. Unfortunately, it was already frazzled by the frenzied attacks by the horde, and she wasn't sure that she would be able to manage it...

_"...the cost of what you seek to do, if you should lose your way, will be truly high indeed. For you are one of the Nexuses who will have the ability to shape this world... If you should fail, then your flames will consume all you hold dear..."_

Mary, remembering the last part of her dream, then snarled; she had come too far and done too much to allow some flaming pansies to get the better of her now. Focusing her iron will, she then stood up and glared at the horde, refusing to submit to these manifestations of her fury, and smirked at three of them. They had been about to run her through with their furnace-like hands, only to halt mere inches from her body...

She was Mary Macdonald; rage, hatred and fury served her as her weapons of choice, NOT the other way around. 'I will not let them control me...I WILL CONTROL THEM!'

* * *

"Regulus, you little worm! Get back here and give back my letter!"

"Hmmph! You're better off without it; he's just another nasty little Blood-Traitor!"

"Regulus," Orion Black said, not even looking at the two boys as they ran around the table he was sitting at, "give your brother back his letter; you're too old to be acting so childish. Remember, you are both Blacks..."

Looking back at his father, a balding older man with hair that was already beginning to grey, he felt somewhat ashamed. Swallowing, Regulus turned to Sirius and thrust the letter back into his hands, saying rudely, "There, Sirius, have fun planning pranks with your stupid friend, Potter!"

Sirius looked for a moment like he was about to retaliate, but settled for glaring at Regulus for taking the letter in the first place and then running upstairs to his room. As he ran up, Regulus' eyes followed him for a moment, then he thought with anger and a slight bit of sadness, 'Stupid Sirius...why did he have to change so much and start running around with Potter's gang in the first place? What a bloody fool he is...'

"Oh, and Regulus," Walburga Black then spoke calmly, although a note of command was in the tone of her voice, "we need to talk about some of the things that have been happening recently; it appears that your father and I may have been sorely mistaken about this 'Voldemort' character..."

Frowning, Regulus turned back to look at his parents. Both of them had been encouraging him for several years now to join the Knights of Walpurgis, then eventually the Death Eaters. The fact that they were considering changing their minds was very unusual, as the two of them were as stubborn as Sirius and rarely listened to counter-arguments. His father then spoke, clearing his throat as he said awkwardly,

"Yes, indeed. In addition to what those media dogs have been muttering about, I spoke to Minister Crouch before he unveiled the D.E.S.A. (AN: Death Eater Suppression Act), and he...recommended that we consider other options than the Death Eaters for your future. Although I cannot say that I particularly say that I care for the man, he did give me some interesting advice; tell me, Regulus, what have you heard about a group by the name of '_Terranum_'?"

Regulus thought for a moment, then said with a shrug, "Well, amongst the Knights, those who join it are considered to be Blood-Traitors, but there is no denying that they are well-backed and are likely to go places. Mostly the group's membership comes from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but two out of the three leaders are Slytherins, and the third one is in Gryffindor. I heard a rumor that it was originally supposed to be a Death Eater sub-organization, but apparently those who supported the idea have been...dealt with."

Walburga seemed to think for a bit, putting her hand to her right cheek and stroking it slowly. Finally, she got up from the table, walked over to Regulus, and said quietly, "Regulus, I think that it would be in the best interests of the Black family if you were to join this _Terranum_, as it would be an excellent way to deal with the current political situation. Minister Crouch has been getting rather nasty with some of the older families, and this would be a very good way to appease him..."

"Indeed" Orion said gravely, "Minister Crouch has made it very clear that siding with the Death Eaters, even if we are not Death Eaters ourselves, will be very painful for our family indeed..."

Regulus carefully considered this, as while he loved his parents, he hated the idea of being in an organization that was rife with Blood-Traitors and Mudbloods. Still, he supposed that she was right and it was best for the family, so he said in a low voice, "Consider it done, Mother..."

* * *

'It really is strange sometimes how things work out.' Lily mused to herself; in her original time-line, she had had a great many friends and acquaintances. She had always been very social, and had taken a great deal of pride and joy in how many friends she had possessed, so many that she had rarely had time to herself. It had been one of the things that the original Severus had mocked her for, saying that she had so many friends that she could forget about ten and not even notice it.

In all of the cases that she had given up on a friend, save for two, Severus had been proved right, and this time had been no exception. Even though she had been fairly close to the Marauders and Sabrina in this time-line, their absence had been easily missed, forgotten; even the thought of James, the man she had married in her original time-line, was nothing more than a dull ache.

Perhaps it was because their friendships and relationships had been based on having fun, passion and mischievousness instead of mutual understanding, but Lily almost felt bad about not really missing them.

As a matter of fact, there had been only two times that the loss of a friendship had REALLY bothered her. Those two had been when she had given up on Severus in the original time-line, which had been like a deep wound that she only had band-aids for, and when Severus and Mary had given up on HER in this time-line, which had felt like she was getting rammed in the heart with two, massive spears.

Lily wondered to herself about this as she set the book down that she had been pretending to read, 'I wonder if it was because I never really cared about them or because I just cared about Severus and Mary much more. I mean, Sirius and Remus were never really MY friends, but rather James'...' She then frowned deeply, remembering what HER James had told her about never stopping his bullying of Severus, 'Really, if they were my friends, why did none of them mention that? I mean, if Severus were to betray me in some way, I'm sure that Mary would tell me about it...'

Speaking of Mary, Lily smirked slightly as she glanced over at Mary's present; unlike Severus, Mary had never been the type to think much about the gifts she gave. She would typically think of some category of 'stuff' that the recipient generally liked, then buy something really expensive in that category and call it a day. Ironically, it reminded her rather a lot of James...

In this case, Mary had bought her a solid gold cauldron which, while nice, wasn't something that Lily really found useful. Golden cauldrons were used primarily when the brewer was an alchemist, as the gold's inherent transmutative properties worked rather well with potions that helped in that field. Unfortunately, that came at a price, as the transmutative properties that were so useful in alchemy would cause catestrophic explosions in normal potions. After all, some potions were extremely volatile, and if their ingredients suddenly shifted... Lily shuddered at the thought.

Admittedly, Lily couldn't say that her Christmas present to Mary was that great either; it consisted of a nice transfiguration book that she had remembered James going on about in her original time-line, but she did have the excuse of having something truly incredible planned for Mary's birthday. It was an idea that she had been rather interested on for years, and had only just gotten back to.

Now that she had dealt with the major issues that had been plaguing her for months, with the exception of the continual assaults by the Gryffindors, she had decided to return to her old hobby of magical experimentation. One of the biggest things that she had been working on prior to returning to this time-line and causing this giant mess in it had been a project of her's that stretched across four fields of magic: Ancient Runes, Potions, Charms, and a little bit of Divination.

The focus of the project was a relatively simple one, but the details had been complex to the point that most would consider it a waste of time considering the anticipated gains. The idea was to create a magical energy reserve, personalize it to one person, and bind it to them via a ring. The difficult part was making it so that only the targetted person would receive the effects of the reserve, as typically an energy reserve like that was rapidly used up by anyone in the area...

Nonetheless, Lily had come up with a breakthrough prior to her death, using Divination to sense a person's emotional makeup and what it would likely turn out to be; she would then make it so that only a person with that particular emotional makeup could draw upon the reserve. Unfortunately, the method had a few drawbacks, but Lily felt confidant that it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Yawning, she turned to a picture on her bedside table, then paused; she suddenly realized that she had been mistaken when she had thought that there had only been two lost relationships that she had ever forgotten, for she had forgotten one of the more painful ones: the loss of her sister's friendship with her...

* * *

Severus watched nervously as the fiery, winged angels halted right in front of Mary without even the slightest twitch; it was as if they had suddenly been frozen in place, and they each glared at her. However, eventually they slowly and furiously bowed down before her as she continued to smirk at them.

He would have happily gone over to help her, but she had warned him ahead of time that his getting too close could cause issues with her concentration. Besides, there was nothing he could do to help her anyway, really. Severus knew what he was capable of, and none of the spells he had mastered would be able to stop the hellish angels for more than a couple of seconds. As such, he continued waiting, hoping that nothing would go wrong, but terrified that it would...

For nearly a minute, both Mary and the creatures she had summoned stayed in place, unmoving; in the end though, her smirk grew into a smile and the demonic manifestations of her rage shattered into fiery shards that rained down, only to vanish before touching the ground. Severus sighed in relief at this, and then she turned around and beamed at him. After quickly using the Burn-Be-Gone on all the spots that she had been burnt by being in close proximity to those creatures of flame, she then slowly walked toward him...

Severus felt his cheeks flush as she all but strutted toward him, brown eyes glowing with power and a spark of something that was quite indefinable. Although some of her clothing had burned clear through, including a particularly interesting part right on top of her right breast, she still seemed like the majestic, radiant beauty that he had fallen in love with.

As he watched her, he asked worriedly, "Do you think that you've mastered it?" He then said, angrily on account of his concern for her, "I mean, what you did was completely INSANE, so you had better have mastered that spell, or there will be hell to pay!" In response, Mary shrugged and put her arms around him. She then pulled him closer to her, smiling excitedly.

While Severus tried to come to grips with this new...situation, Mary gave him a kiss where jawline met neck which made him shudder in a very good way, before whispering in his ear, "Sorry, Sev; I didn't mean to scare you like that, but I knew that there was no way you would have let me learn that way..."

Severus was quite sure that he should continue berating her, but with her pressed up against his body he was finding it awfully hard to be angry at her. He hadn't had the opportunity to see her unclothed in more than four months now, but he still thought that she was one of the most beautiful things that he had ever touched, even if she wasn't starkers at the moment.

Breathing in the scent of fire and brimstone that surrounded her on account of her training, Severus put his arms around her and pulled his favorite little Succubus closer to him for a moment, sighing in was almost enough to make him forget the promise he had made to himself, after Lily had confessed to having feelings for him, that he wouldn't let his physical attraction to either of them influence his decision...to the best of his abilities at least.

As such, not wanting to give the impression that he didn't love Mary, but not wanting to have his decision caused by the part of his body that was rapidly firming up, he sighed remorsefully. Slowly, not wanting to lose the sensation of her breasts pressing into his chest too quickly, Severus then pushed her away; it turned out that it was a good thing he did, as a green jet of light whooshed right through the spot that she had been standing.

Both of them turned quickly, wands already drawn and ready for a fight, only to see what appeared to be five Death Eaters standing before them in the field where Mary had practiced. They couldn't be told apart because they were all in their masks and identical robes, although two of them were on broomsticks.

One of the Death Eaters then clapped for a few seconds, before saying mockingly, in a voice that Severus recognized with a surge of anger as Lucius', "Well done, well done; for a Mudblood, that wasn't so bad, now was it, Macdonald? Now then, I'm afraid that your success will be...short-lived..."

As Mary quickly retorted Severus ran a quick calculation of their chances in a fight, much like when they had been fighting the Marauders together nearly a year ago. Unfortunately, these weren't pathetic wanna-bes like they had fought in Diagon Alley back in August; these Death Eaters were the real deal, and Severus had a sinking suspicion that his calculations were pointless, as the odds of them actually winning were all but zero...

Individually, Severus estimated that in a one-on-one against any of them, he would have a fair chance at winning, but the odds were far worse than one-on-one... However, those calculations were based upon fighting them like Gryffindors; they were Slytherins, and their house had made lying and deceiving others into a competitive sport unto itself.

Severus frowned; admittedly, he had far more than a few tricks up his sleeve, but would they be enough to keep him and Mary alive?

_

* * *

_

"Hello, it is nice to meet you; my name is Tom, what's yours?"

_"Err, my name is Celeste. Nice to meet you too."_

_"You seem fairly young...Are you a student at Hogwarts?"_

_"Yes, yes I am. How did you know?"_

_"Heh heh, lucky guess. Tell me about yourself, Celeste. Tell me...everything..."_

_"Well, I..."_

**Author's Note: **In case you guys are wondering why Mary is receiving these dreams, like Lily is, that will be revealed in an upcoming chapter. In case you guys are hoping for a super-power-up from Lily's project, you are out of luck; it won't have THAT level of effect.

Brace yourself guys, the next few chapters are going to be a bumpy ride for our cunning heros, heroines, and anti-heroines...

On an off-topic, I STRONGLY recommend that you guys read 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bellatrix' after this; even though Bellatrix and Severus are the two main characters, it's an SSLE and it is quite hilarious. In just one example, Severus is given the alias 'Fido Dogsbody' by Bellatrix after faking his own death.


	51. In Defense Of Those You Love

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 51**

**In Defense Of Those You Love**

_If you seek to harm the ones I love, then I shall slay you all..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Wednesday January 6th, 1976_**

"You know that there is no point in resisting, right, Mudblood?"

"Sod off you inbred wanker! I don't care how many of you there are; we aren't going to go down easily!"

"You INSOLE..."

Severus stopped listening to them, knowing that Mary would keep him distracted for a little bet between her insults and Lucius' ego. Besides, he had more important things to think about, like how they were going to get out of this mess. Even though Mary had learned a new ability in the form of her _Fiendfyre_, Severus could tell just by seeing it action once that such a spell had quite a few limitations to it which would make it impractical to use right then.

'OK, on the bright side, we have those brooms in our pockets, and can unshrink them if we need to and take to the are; however, if we do so, then Lucius and his friend on THEIR brooms will overwhelm us with their superior speed and likely better flying skills...If only we could remove their brooms as an issue...'

Shaking his head with a sigh to cover his actions, Severus quickly took a look around, trying to find some way to make use of the terrain to improve their chances of survival. Realizing that they were only a hundred or so yards from the nearby forest, Severus thought that perhaps they might be able to take advantage of the cover provided by the trees. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that he had less time than he had expected as a jet of green light issued from Lucius' wand at Mary.

Knowing that green was very lethal indeed, Severus quickly fired a simple Stunner at the blast, blocking it as he tapped Mary on the shoulder and said, "Woods. Move. NOW!"

Not even bothering to nod, Mary quickly broke into a sprint as she fired a series of _Confringo_'s at the legs of the attackers who lacked brooms. Unfortunately, they were all blocked by quick _Protego_'s and similar spells, as even a miss would have caused a fair amount of damage from the explosion. Nonetheless, it accomplished the objective of distracting the Death Eaters for a few seconds, allowing the two teens to get off to a head-start.

However, Lucius was clearly prepared for them to do this as he shot an arcing blast of blueish flame shooting over their heads, which exploded upon contact with the ground and left a wall of flame behind. Severus smirked though, rather than getting angry, as he shouted to Mary, "Let's fly!"

Understanding immediately, Mary quickly whipped out her shrunken broom, then enlarged it to its original size and flew over the flames; Severus did the same, while firing a couple of hexes back at the pursuers. While this enabled them to split up their pursuers temporarily, Severus knew that it wouldn't last long, and fighting opponents with faster brooms in mid-air would be tantamount to suicide. As such, he and Mary quickly flew into the forest nearby, where their lesser speed would be more of an advantage than not.

Upon entering the 'forest' though, Severus began to curse mentally, as it quickly became apparent that the 'forest' was no more than a few-hundred yards wide and deep. There wasn't enough room to really lose their pursuers in it; as such, he then said coolly, glancing over at Mary as he did so, "It doesn't look like escaping will be that much of an option, at least not easily; any suggestions?"

Mary thought about it for a moment, then grinned, before saying, "They only have two brooms, so if we can get rid of the broom-riders, we can just fly out of here. Either that, or take out the brooms themselves."

Severus smirked, then replied easily, "It appears that they are giving us a few minutes so we can't do the old 'divide and conquer' trick; what do you say that we prepare something... enjoyable for them?"

Mary's grin turned positively malicious as she then purred out, "You just read my mind, Sev..."

* * *

Celeste Macdonald smiled slightly as she read her copy of Witch Weekly; unlike her newfound sister, who was more tomboyish in spite of her beauty, Celeste took great pride in making every male around gaze upon her in adoration. Even though she had been raped by Avery, Celeste refused to let that change her and her love of being admired, and had decided that the best way to do that was to accept it and understand it while moving on. She had no doubt that it would be difficult, but she had every intention of doing it nonetheless.

In addition, her new friend Tom was doing a great deal to help her deal with the trauma; even though he was only a diary, he listened as well as anyone, and she had to admit that he was a very helpful aid...

Suddenly, she frowned, as she heard the sound of some of the wards to their home being broken through; as members of _Terranum_, she and Mary were permitted to use spells even away from school so as to protect themselves and their families. As such, Mary had spent the first couple of days after she had arrived home for the holidays casting ward after ward after ward; while it wasn't as well warded as the Greengrass mansion, Celeste knew that it would still take a few minutes to bring down the home's defenses.

Quickly, Celeste ran downstairs, where her new mum and dad were staring at the front door apprehensively. Drawing on her training as a member of _Terranum_, she quickly took charge of the situation, saying calmly, "Frank, Julia, I want the two of you to each grab a weapon of some kind and hide in the basement; if you hear someone coming and they don't say 'Family Code', consider them to be hostile."

Frank Macdonald quickly calmed down, then said sternly, "And what will you be doing, young lady?"

Celeste smiled sadly, then said wistfully, "This is what I have been trained to handle, like you and mum with your Mergler things, except in my case I have been taught to deal with Death Eaters..." She looked at both of them pleadingly, "...Don't be foolish dad, just go hide and let me handle this."

They both looked uncertain, but Celeste pointed toward the staircase as the sound of breaking wards grew louder and louder; finally, Julia said quietly, "You may be trained for this, but please do be careful; I don't want my children hurt, either of them..."

Celeste could feel some tears beginning to leak out of her eyes and she quickly rubbed them away as she smiled a watery smile, thrilled at how they were acknowledging her as an official member of the family only a few days after the adoption; nonetheless, she still kept motioning at them to get into hiding until they finally went down the staircase to the basement.

Celeste quickly looked around the living room for cover and ideas; she had a pretty good idea what was coming, but she had no intention of making it easy for any scummy Death Eaters, that was certain. As the last of the wards shattered, Celeste threw herself behind the couch and tried to see how many were coming by looking for their reflection in the telly's screen...

As she saw who it was, Celeste's eyes widened for a moment, then she grinned ferally. 'Avery...I don't care why you came here, but you will be leaving here in pieces when I'm through with you!'

Last time, she had done very well against Justin Avery, or so Mary said; this time, Celeste intended to make sure that Avery was very well done indeed, preferably charred until he wasn't even ashes...

* * *

Mary was making use of all her talent in transfiguration as she and Severus prepared for the Death Eaters' arrival; although the wall of fire had clearly forced the Death Eaters to ferry one another across, she knew that time wasn't on their side. As such, she was focusing on speed rather than form as she turned what had been a clump of trees into a Muggle fortress in miniature.

Unfortunately, while she could easily make a wide range of materials, crafting stuff like ballistae and traps was a bit more difficult; all transfiguration was based on knowing more or less what you were turning something into. As such, Mary was somewhat limited in what she could make.

For the first time in years, she wished that she knew more of technology; although ballistae were pretty nice, the ability to create a morter or a machine gun would not be a bad thing. Even though spells like _Protego _and the like were very good against even Muggle Bazookas, that didn't mean that the ability to barrage them would be something that Mary would dislike.

Speaking of defensive spells, Mary glanced over at Severus, who was putting the finishing touches on a wide array of his wards; after the two of them had started working together back in October of last year, they had each chosen to specialize a bit more in the spells they used. While Severus was still quite good at offensive, attacking spells, he had found that he was far better with defensive, protective spells. In contrast, Mary found that her skill at the offense was very potent indeed.

In addition to his _Contego cum Umbra_, Severus had managed to make his ward-casting far more efficient than the standard methods, but his main new idea was his _Contego cum Ventus_. Instead of relying on raw power to block the attacks of his opponents, like the standard _Protego _spell, _Contego cum Ventus _created a bubble out of rotating winds and magical energy which would deflect an opponent's spell away from the bubble.

Although not as reliable against standard hexes and spells, the fact that it would deflect rather than block made it possible for it to protect its user from spells which were normally considered unblockable. Even the mighty _Avada Kedavra_ could be deflected in another direction from the shield's caster, which made it something that Mary was seriously consider making it mandatory for all members of _Aduro Terranum _to learn.

Realizing that they had both finished preparing the defenses, Mary then smirked, before saying as she tapped Severus on the shoulder, "Come on, let's get into position; this should be one hell of a show!"

Severus chuckled for a moment, before saying wickedly, "Indeed, they will certainly go out with quite a bang... It's almost obscene how much gunpowder you put in there...almost."

* * *

Petunia Evans sighed and buried her face in her hands as she sat at the kitchen table, moping. It had been nearly three weeks since she had started trying to flirt with Severus so that she could steal him from her sister, with absolutely no luck. It wasn't so much that Petunia liked him, although she had to admit that she found him quite attractive, as it was the fact that he was something of her sister's that she clearly valued greatly.

Unfortunately, while Severus was no longer trying to get under her skin, either he had absolutely no attraction for her or he simply didn't realize she was flirting. Mind you, he had never really been actively hostile to her, but he had made it clear that he had no real fondness for her in the past. Of course, back then Petunia hadn't minded as he had been some scrawny little freak from Spinner's End, with no money and no prospects.

Petunia then moaned aloud, "Great, just great; why couldn't I have I been trying to steal Severus BEFORE my sister really showed interest in him?"

"WHAT!?"

"This day just keeps getting better and better..." Petunia muttered, then she glared at Lily, who had apparently just entered the kitchen. Lily glared back with her emerald green eyes flashing, obviously furious, then walked up to her with her face set in a scowl as she drew her wand. Coldly, Petunia's sister then said,

"How pathetic, Petunia; you aren't satisfied with your boyfriend, so try to steal the best friend of your own SISTER after you've belittled him for years, just so you can one-up me like you always try to. I was actually mildly impressed with how you've been treating him as I thought that it might be you showing signs of maturing, but clearly your still up to the same games that you always were."

Petunia snorted, then said with a snarl, "At least it would have been ONE BLOODY THING that I get that my little sister doesn't! You've gotten everything you wanted in your life so far, barely even having to work for it, while I've worked myself to the bone trying to get half as good of the marks you get. You're the 'special' one, and I'm just the one that mom and dad mention as 'Lily's sister'! Besides..."

Petunia then smiled cruelly, saying with a cold laugh, "...You're just as bad as I am when it comes to trying to get whatever you want; you're just as much of a selfish, little BRAT as anyone I've ever met! You threw me away as soon as your precious 'Severus' came along, only interested in spending time with him instead of your own SISTER!"

Lily's mouth worked for several seconds without saying anything, then her eyes narrowed to slits and she said scathingly, "So it's all about YOU, isn't it, Petunia? I'll admit that you and Severus probably didn't get off to the best start, but why couldn't you have tried to be friends with my best friend if you were so interested in spending time with me? Heck, he certainly stopped fighting with you after you stopped recently, so why couldn't you have done the same for him? You were the one who refused to even make an effort after Severus entered my life, not me!"

Furious, Petunia then roared, "Go to hell, Lily Evans! And leave me alone!" She then stormed up to her room, hoping that she had just hurt her sister as much as Lily had hurt her by not choosing her over Severus when they were kids...

* * *

Lucius frowned as he and his fellow Death Eaters crept into the forest, himself under a Disillusionment charm; In front of them, he could see what appeared to be a small castle, complete with walls and a pair of towers. It was a visual demonstration of why he had been told not to underestimate the two they were hunting, as it had been thrown up in mere minutes while he had been getting his Death Eaters situated.

Rodolphus Lestrange then said with a chuckle, "Foolish teenagers; my detection spell just told me that they, in all the wards guarding that little castle of theirs, forgot to include an anti-apparition ward. If we go in, we can probably take them out in a matter of second; who's with me?"

Lucius mentally cursed the moment that the two of them had become brothers-in-law, but replied calmly nonetheless, in spite of Rodolphus' stupidity, "Rodolphus, any 'foolish teenagers' capable of setting up a defense like that in the short time it took for us to get here are far from stupid enough to forget an anti-apparition ward. In all likelihood, it's an ambush."

As Rodolphus glared at him, Lucius said coolly, "Instead of falling for such a simple trap, I reccomend that we go with a different approach..." He then calmly pointed his wand at a point over the castle, before saying, "Let's use the old Muggle method of 'barragging' them. Fire arcing attacks to come down on the fortress in three. One, two, three!"

The quintet then shot a series of spells, two of them firing blueish flame-blasts like Lucius, and the other two shooting what appeared to be jets of some sort of greenish goo and whiteish light respectively. For a split second nothing seemed to happen, but then the whole place exploded, sending shards of rock everywhere at high speeds and leaving a large cloud of smoke behind...

Quickly putting up shielding charms, Lucius and the others rode out the storm, waiting calmly for it to end. Finally, the storm of rock settled and the smoke cleared, leaving only a blackened crater in its wake. Rodolphus then grinned, much to Lucius displeasure, and said, "That'll show 'em; no stupid kids can take on Death Eaters..."

However, Lucius frowned, for something wasn't quite right...

**Author's Note: **Let's just say that the Evans sisters have quite a few issues to work out; as for Avery and the other Death Eaters, clearly they have managed to crush our not-exactly-heroic heroes, really... Those fingers I had crossed behind my back? they meant nothing, nothing at all!

I hope that you guys don't mind Severus' new spell, and his spells being more focused on defense than in canon; trust me, there's a good reason for it...


	52. Death From Above

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 52**

**Death From Above**

_Avery, goodbye; trust me when I say that no-one will mourn you..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Wednesday January 6th, 1976_**

'Come on, assume that we were in that fort when it blew up; come on you stupid Death Eaters...' Mary watched apprehensively from one of the bushes nearby as Malfoy and the rest of the Death Eaters whispered together, clearly arguing as they glanced around. '...please don't figure out that it was a trick...'

It was one of Severus' more brilliant ideas in Mary's opinion; the Death Eaters were likely to use their ability to apparate to enter the fortress in a 'clever' attempt at surprise. However, it was really a massive death-trap; the second that she heard the cracking sound of apparition she had planned to set the massive quantity of gunpowder they had prepared inside ablaze, almost certainly killing everyone inside, then she and Severus would take out the Death Eaters who remained in a pincer movement.

Unfortunately, it turned out that the ruddy Death Eaters were smarter than the two of them had expected, electing to destroy the false fortress at a distance and thus preventing the trap from taking them out. A pincer movement now would likely be the height of suicidal strategies, as they would be divided and outnumbered while striking a centralized opponent.

The smart thing to do would be to have both her and Severus try to escape by using their brooms, hoping that the Death Eaters would miss them in the confusion; unfortunately, Severus had already sent a Patronus to Lily, letting her know where they all were and what was going on. As such, running would likely cost Lily her life, something which Mary would sacrifice her right arm to prevent. No, attacking was the only option, as waiting would just get them all killed, but the question was how to go about doing that...

'Hmm, what would Lily do in this situation?' Mary thought to herself a moment, then grinned, before mentally deciding, 'She'd probably try to alter the battle somehow, making the situation better for us... Let's see how those moronic silver-masked freaks enjoy battling in a forest that is completely on fire! FIENDFYRE that is! At the very least, it should make a nice distraction for whatever Sev is up to...'

Quickly putting both a cooling charm and a Bubble-Head charm on herself in preperation for what was to come, Mary then called upon all the rage she was feeling towards Lucius and his cronies for their attacks upon Severus and herself, before focusing it and roaring like fire itself and shooting a blast of flame at the ground nearby. Another flight of her demonic angels of fire quickly appeared, this time not even trying to contest her will as she summoned them into being.

As the Death Eaters quickly turned towards her, Mary gave the fiery creatures a simple mental command: if it isn't Severus or herself, burn it to ash. Grinning wickedly, they quickly spread out, igniting everything that they touched while Mary began her own attacks with a quick barrage of _Confringo_'s. Soon the sounds of fire crackling spread throughout the small forest. 'Let's see if they like it hot...'

Although surprised, the Death Eaters quickly retaliated with a blistering stream of Killing Curses, jets of flame, and other lethal spells, annihiliating all of her cover instantly as they tried to slay her; in a matter of moments, Mary probably would have been killed by such a mighty barrage, if it weren't for the Fiendfyre distracting them.

Quickly, they all started trying to attack Mary's fel angels, using a variety of spells that was quite impressive indeed as they tried desperately to dodge them. Unfortunately for them, they weren't completely successful, and screams soon echoed throughout the forest...

Mary felt a quick, small pang of remorse as one of the infernal creatures caught one of the Death Eaters by the arm, as the heat of those flames was such that his entire arm caught fire and burned like a scrap of paper shoved into a bonfire, however her guilt vanished instantly as she thought about how they were trying to kill Severus... 'That will NOT come to pass...whatever the cost.'

Her calmness restored as she returned to the state of cold fury she relied upon when dealing with her enemies in combat, she appraised the situation while blocking out the shrieks of agony that were coming from the nearly-immolated Death Eater. Luckily for him, water did work upon the flames that had started to spread to the rest of his body, even if not on those that comprised the Fiendfyre itself. Still, it was clearly too late to save the arm, which was now little more than a pile of ash...

Meanwhile, the other Death Eaters had taken out more than half of Mary's summoned forces with their barrage, without getting hurt in any significant fashion in return. 'It's too bad that they can be destroyed by anything that would kill a normal person, but in such numbers their effectiveness is certainly impressive... Pity that they are dying so fast, but at least they have done their job...'

Indeed, the forest had been turned into a giant furnace, what with all the superheated flame running around; Mary was very glad that she had prepared for this as he then rose up on her own broom, after unshrinking it, and flew up into the canopy overhead.

Mary then smirked as she hid from easy view while silently making her way to another area to attack from. 'At the very least, this should definitely give Severus all the distraction he could ever need...'

* * *

Petunia glared at the plate she was cleaning as she scrubbed furiously, so furiously that she was mildly surprise that she hadn't scrubbed a hole into it. She was downright furious at Lily for how SHE had betrayed her again, not even willing to admit that SHE had been wrong and SHE had been the one who had destroyed their relationship.

SHE had given it all up for a then-scrawny boy and some cheap parlour tricks while forgetting about her sister completely and she had an audacity to wonder why Petunia was angry? 'Why should I be the one to feel guilty!? It was all HER fault, her and her stupid love for her stupid magic; I was just her stupid, old sister who didn't matter to her, doesn't matter to her and never will matter to her in comparison...'

However, Petunia Evans was feeling a gnawing guilt growing in the pit of her stomach as tears started leaking from her eyes; as much as she tried to ignore it, even if Lily weren't right about what she had said, she was still her sister and Petunia did care about her. Trying to wipe the tears with the sleeves of her faded 'housework' shirt, Petunia dropped the plate back into the soapy water with a 'chink' noise, before going over to the kitchen table to sit down.

Suddenly, she stopped midway to the table, for Lily was standing over by the kitchen door; much like her sister, there were tears on her own face as she looked worriedly back at Petunia.

Petunia then swallowed, unsure what to do, before muttering angrily as she tried to conceal her face from viewed, "Um...you're OK, right Lily?"

Lily walked around the table slowly, picking at one of the wooden chairs with a finger, then whispered thickly, "I...I'm OK..."

Nervously, Petunia then walked a few feet closer, arms crossed as she looked apprehensively at her sister before saying vaguely, "Um...I guess that's good, right?"

Lily looked at her with wet, tear-stained eyes and said quietly and anxiously,"Petunia...I just want you to know that I should be very angry with you for trying to steal Severus from me, and on some level I am..." She paused for a moment, then continued with her voice gaining in strength and steadiness with each syllable spoken, "...But I've spent far too long without my sister, and maybe you did push me away, but I could have tried harder too. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I miss Tuney, OK...?"

Petunia looked at her sister uncertainly, as part of her wanted to take the olive branch she had offered it and smack her in the face with it to end their relationship once and for all, and yet... Petunia's eyes watered some more, and she said quietly, "Lily..." She grasped for words, then said in a voice that bordered on a whisper as she looked into her sister's watery eyes, "I would like that too...being your 'Tuney' again..."

Lily suddenly clutched her in a hug that sent her crashing to the ground while babbling out thanks and apologies, things like "I'm sorry, so sorry!", "I didn't mean it!" and other such stuff.

Suddenly, Petunia remembered that she was supposed to be angry and resentful towards this girl, but just she couldn't quite manage it; perhaps the fight earlier that day had finally done it, bringing everything out into the open instead of buried beneath a sea of resentment, but now that Lily was crying while hugging her she found that she didn't really want to...

Soon Petunia found herself babbling out her own words of apology and acceptance,

"Thank you, Lily..."

"Tuney, I'm so glad to...!"

"I missed you so much...!"

"I missed you too...!"

It continued for several minutes, only to be interrupted by the surprising sight of a silvery doe entering the kitchen and saying in Severus' voice, sounding frantic and afraid,

"Lily! Mary and I were working on her _Fiendfyre _when five Death Eaters showed up, led by Malfoy! We're trapped in that small forest by the field we played at the Summer of third year, remember!? Bring help if you can..." Suddenly, Severus' voice paused, then he said in a voice choked with emotion, "I...I don't know if we are going to make it, but if we don't, I want you to know that I love...love you still..."

As the silvery doe nodded its head in salute while vanishing, Petunia looked at her sister and said without rancor, worry on her face "Just go...I know you want to, but be careful... I don't want to have regained my sister only to lose her again in the same day!"

Lily nodded with an expression of equal worry, then set her face into a calm yet determined expression before vanishing from sight with a giant "CRACK"...

"Be safe, Lily...please..."

* * *

'How did it come to this...? They're just a pair of fifteen-year old TEENAGERS! How can this possibly be HAPPENING!?' Lucius mentally shouted as he dodged yet another vicious orange curse from the mudblood whore, Macdonald, only to barely have his shielding charm up in time to block a slashing blade of light from Snape.

Up until a few minutes ago it seemed that everything was simple and, although it was said that these two would be rather tough for their age, he hadn't expected anything even remotely CLOSE to what was happening now. Macdonald had suddenly unleashed a swarm of _Fiendfyre_-crafted angels from cover, causing the forest to erupt in flame and one of his comrades to fall to the ground, screaming as Crabbe's arm was all but melted by the hellish flames.

Lucius had just managed to rally them, shooting down the thrice-cursed angels, when one of those slashing blades that Snape seemed so fond of cut a gash into the back of Rodolphus' neck that came so close to beheading him that he could now compare wounds with that silly Gryffindor ghost.

As they looked around frantically to find that imbecilic boy, they missed Macdonald using her broom to fly into the treetops...until a sudden volley came from both of the teens from up in the burning canopy overhead and nearly put Crabbe out of his misery...

Normally, he would have simply gotten on his broom and made it a battle in the air, but the fact that his broom was faster was meaningless with this number of obstacles; only brooms with the level of agility that their brooms seemed to have could possibly navigate this endlessly-burning hell, which meant that they were able to easily escape their line of sight, only to attack again from somewhere else...

In spite of all these problems, Lucius figured that it was still possible to pull a win out of this mess and thought quickly, before smirking as he realized something and shouted, "Blast the trees down! Get rid of their cover then shoot them out of the skies!"

Understanding quickly, and with the quick obedience inspired by sheer fear for their lives, the rest of the Death Eaters unleashed a volley of spells and all but shredded every tree within about twenty feet in a matter of seconds. Lucius then smiled evilly. 'With their cover destroyed, they'll either have to face us in the air and be outmatched by our brooms' sheer speed, or fight on the ground and be outnumbered two-to-one...'

Then there was a sudden 'CRACK' from nearby, and he whirled around, only to see the red-headed Mudblood that Snape had been so fond of when Lucius had been in school with him; however, rather than her usual moronic smile, she had a look of utter calmness on her face that Lucius found even more terrifying in its own way than the mask of utter fury that graced Macdonald's.

The stupid Mudblood then said coolly, without a trace of fear on her face, as she spoke in a carrying voice, "Malfoy...I've spent far too long trying to keep my friends away from the likes of scum like you..." Her startlingly green eyes then flashed with anger and she, shouting as she hurled a massive beam of white light in Lucius' direction, "...I'll not let you take them, NO MATTER WHAT!"

As the beam of light slammed into and blinded Goyle while barely missing him, Lucius quickly countered with a curse of his own, before attempting to cast a counter-curse for whatever the hell the Mudblood had used. As his attempts to unblind Goyle failed, he realized that it wasn't magic that had blinded the man, but simply light that was too bright for his eyes to take. Cursing, Lucius then aimed a pair of _Crucio_'s in the red-head's general direction

Unfortunately, Evans repelled the curses with relative ease as she shouted once more, saying "Dodge this!" while hurling a fast and accurate stream of what appeared to be spears of white light in his direction.

Sneering, Lucius put of a Shielding charm and prepared to counter with the Killing Curse, only to realize his mistake when the light-spears drilled right through his shield as if they were Killing Curses themselves; dodging frantically, he managed to avoid most of them, although one of them caught him in the shoulder and burrowed right through.

While he gritted in teeth to keep from screaming, Lucius' finely-honed Slytherin instincts were shouting at him that continuing this would be stupid to a Gryffindorish level, between the other two teens ready to cut them into shreds should they focus on this new threat and the fact that most of his group was already wounded; as such, he quickly nodded disgustedly at the rest of his group, before grabbing Goyle and apparated away to safety.

'The Dark Lord may want them dead at any cost, but I strongly doubt he would be so foolish to have us continue fighting at THOSE odds... Oh well, at least it gives time for my contingency plan to come into effect...'

* * *

Justin Avery smirked as he entered the house; it had been far too long since he had been able to enjoy himself really, in spite of the fact that he had finally joined the Death Eaters, and he was particularly looking forward to having the opportunity to 'play' with Celeste again. She had been more pleasing than the women he had had lately, as they had had this broken look in their eyes as he claimed them, while she had still had defiance buried behind the fear...

It was a shame that he would have to kill her, as the Dark Lord had ordered the deaths of Macdonald's mother and father as well as Macdonald herself; he hadn't mentioned killing Celeste by name, but Justin knew what was expected of him, and relished the chance. She would finally receive the ultimate honor she deserved, having him still moving within her as he blew a fourth orifice into her body, right on her forehead...

As he glanced around the room, Justin's smirk grew into an evil smile; there was a couch, two tan armchairs and a coffee table in the room...as well as one foolish little blood-traitor hiding behind said couch. Pretending not to notice her, Justin lazily pointed his wand at the couch and whispered, _"Reducto._"

As the girl quickly scrambled from behind the couch, Justin was pleased to see that it was Celeste; her eyes were filled with fury as she glared at him, but his smile widened as he saw the fear that was also hiding there along with the anger.

Laughing, Justin then said teasingly, "So...Celeste, how have you been doing lately? Miss me much? I'll bet that you've found no-one who can satisfy you like I could since you so foolishly chased the one person who made you feel so good."

Celeste shuddered as she lifted her wand, not even pointed in his direction, and spat in a slightly-quivering voice, "T-trust me, Avery, a pencil could 's-satisfy' me far better than you could..." As Justin walked toward her lazily, wand pointed at her chest, she then continued, "I-I'll kill y-you if you don't l-leave, I swear!"

Justin laughed coolly as he got within ten feet of her, rolling his eyes as he saw that her wand couldn't even point directly at him, but rather at a point over his head; he then said nonchalantly,

"That's a bloody lie if I ever heard one...and you killing me is a complete joke, silly girl. Still, I suppose that it would be fair to tell you that I plan on freeing you from this pathetic excuse that you call a life as well. Do you think that _Macdonald Family Flambe _would make a nice dish? I think that I'll enjoy it as a make those Muggles burn like they once tried to burn us, how about you?"

Her eyes narrowed as she shouted out _"SECTUMSEMPRA!"_, making Justin laugh once more as he easily blocked it and countered with a Stunner, sending the foolish girl flying into the chair behind her and sending it crashing to the ground with a thud... He was still laughing as he felt a sudden, tremendous pain come from the top of his head, then he felt nothing at all...

* * *

Celeste groaned as she got up and looked down at Avery's still twitching corpse; she had been more afraid when she confronted him directly than she would have expected. Still, she had managed to keep control of her _Wingardium Leviosa _spell long enough to have the heavy object floating right overhead, only to crash down as she canceled it in order to cast her _Sectumsempra_.

Looking at the Television set that had crushed her rapist's skull when it fell from right above him, Celeste smirked slightly as she realized that she had finally found at least one good use for Muggle Technology...

* * *

Lily smirked as, with Malfoy having already left the battle, the rest of the Death Eaters followed suit quickly. Her smile faded quickly though as she looked around the still-burning forest, worried that Severus and Mary might have already been slain in this fiery conflagration. Her fears proved amiss though as she saw them suddenly float down to the ground in front of her, shrinking their brooms back to miniature size as they did so.

Grinning wildly, she quickly embraced them both in a fierce hug and said, tears which had stopped flowing after her talk with Petunia beginning to drip down her cheeks once more, "I'm so glad that the two of you are OK...I Apparated as quickly as I could, but you know how long it takes for a Patronus to get from one place to another..."

They both stiffened for a moment, and looked at her, then each other strangely. A silence occurred for several seconds, before it was broken by Severus saying awkwardly, "Err, would you mind letting go for a second? I kinda need to talk to Mary in private, if that's OK with you..."

It was a strange request, considering the fact that everything around them was still burning, but Lily couldn't see anything particularly wrong with it. They were in a clear section of the forest, with the trees around them having been shredded by something, probably the effects of the battle. As such, she agreed, saying, "Uh, sure...I guess so..."

Lily felt rather rejected as they went off to talk alone, as she had just saved them after all, and what could they be talking about that they would want to hide from her? She then froze, eyes widening as she realized something; could it be that Severus had chosen Mary over her and they were talking about how to break it to her? It was bad timing, considering what had just happened, but he had only told Lily that he loved her and not how...

Finally, after a couple of minutes during which both of them would periodically glance at one another, they returned and Lily said with terror beginning to pump through her veins, "Err, is there something going on that I'm missing?"

Severus looked away with a frown on his face as Mary walked over to Lily and put her hand on her back with a sigh, causing Lily to get a very bad feeling, and it wasn't caused by the oppressive heat; this could be it, the moment that she had begun to dread... Although she would accept it if Mary had 'won' with grace and dignity, that didn't mean that she was particularly looking forward to it, and the two of them really did have a lot in common...

After a moment of thought, during which only the sounds of robes rustling and fire crackling could be heard, Severus then said simply, "I'm afraid there is, 'Lily'..."

Severus nodded once and suddenly Lily felt herself blasting forward, only to have her face buried in the ground at his feet while her wand went spiraling away from her. Shocked, she couldn't do anything to stop him when he sat upon the small of her back and Mary said coldly, "Nice try..."

He then continued coldly as she felt the tip of his wand pointed at her, her feelings of surprise and betrayal preventing her from even thinking in her surprise, "...That was a very nice trick, but you forgot something, whoever you are: as brilliant and talented as Lily is, she. Doesn't. Know. How. To. APPARATE YET!"

A jet of red light then issued from his wand and Lily found herself falling into unconsciousness, afraid what would happen to her, but at least knowing that Mary hadn't won yet...

**Author's Note: **Don't forget, as talented and brilliant as our favorite trio is, they are still only fifteen years old; this means that they are too young to even BEGIN to lean how to Apparate. Lily, in her desperate worry for her friends, forgot that little tidbit and let it slip by accident...

As for Petunia and Lily, I felt that with both of them getting the reasons for their anger out into the open, the possibility of their reconcialiation was something that could occur. Mind you, they still have a lot of ground to cover, but the beginnings of it have begun.

I know that I promised something particularly brutal to Avery to some of my reviewers, but I realized that Celeste would probably prefer to deal with him quickly, much as she wants him to suffer; he IS still a major threat to her in a one-on-one, even if she has gotten somewhat better, non-verbal _Wingardium Leviosa_ for example...

I do hope that the battle between Mary&Severus and the Death Eaters went over well; Lucius is no fool, and he knew that he was beat when Lily made the odds an effective three-on-three, as he knows that Lily is exceedingly dangerous to fight.

Sorry for the long time between updates!


	53. The Lily's Tale Part One

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 53**

**The Lily's Tale Part One**

_Lily, you may have made many mistakes, but..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Wednesday January 6th, 1976_**

Severus frowned as he looked at the Lily-imposter; after knocking her out, he and Mary had dragged her to a shed near the field so that they could deal with her without distractions. It had been nearly two hours, so it was highly unlikely that Polyjuice potion had been used, unless it was a superior version of it of the type that Severus had learned to make.

However, Mary was beginning to suspect a form of transfiguration instead, as it could last a good deal longer if done properly. As such, she had started poring over one of her more advanced transiguration books, trying to find something that might help them detect it if it turned out to be the case...

In contrast, Severus was beginning to get a sneaking suspicion that it was indeed Lily, but the problem was that it just didn't make much sense; it WAS possible to learn to apparate on one's own, but Lily hadn't been in a place suitable for learning it in over a year and a half. After all, the Hogwarts grounds were unsuitable for apparition without the direct approval of the headmaster, something which Severus strongly doubted had occured.

On the other hand, if she had tried at her house prior to their deputization as member of the Ministry by being a member of _Aduro Terranum_, then she would have been arrested for sure.

And yet...Severus couldn't quite fathom what this imposter had been trying to gain by attacking the Death Eaters if she were trying to harm them; most non-Death Eater groups were at least mildly supportive of _Aduro Terranum_. Potter and his Defense Association didn't have the brains to cook up something like this, unless Dumbledore were involved...

'Yes...that would make sense; Dumbledore is the only person I know who plots so much and with such convoluted plans, from what I hear. Perhaps Dumbledore was involved...or perhaps it IS Dumbledore!' Severus' eyes widened as he considered that angle; Dumbledore would certainly have an interest in finding out whatever he could about their group, being his faction's main rival in the fight against would certainly have the ability to transfigure himself to such an extent with relative ease...

Then Severus frowned; that still didn't make sense, as Dumbledore would be unlikely to be able to act well enough to imitate Lily to an extent capable of fooling ANYONE, let alone two people who knew her as well as Mary and himself. As such, Severus was seriously beginning to think that this might somehow be Lily, as no other option made sense even in his half-paranoid mind...

Speaking of 'Lily', she suddenly started shifting around, then opened her eyes and looked at him confusedly. He couldn't blame her; it wasn't everyday that someone tied you up like that...unless you were into certain practices Severus supposed, certain rather interesting practices...

Severus was distracted from his rather perverted train of thought by Mary, who had clearly noticed 'Lily's' waking up, walking over to them and saying coldly, "Now then, let's dispense with the denials, shall we? You know and we know that you are not Lily Evans, so you can stop with the charade now, OK?"

'Lily' looked at Mary in confusion, then said with a sigh, shaking her head in what appeared to be mild exasperation, "Um, it isn't a charade, and I must say that I am getting rather annoyed with the whole 'tied up' part. Would you like me to prove it to you somehow? I can tell you deep secrets about yourselves, your worst fears, and the fact that Sev thinks that your lips have a certain creamy flavor to them. Which would you prefer?

Mary looked the both of them over appraisingly while clearly fighting a smirk, and Severus had to groan and say aloud, face heating up to the point that he was certain that his head resembled a tomato, "That is...correct, and something...that I did indeed tell Lily back when the two of us were dating...although it was supposed to be PRIVATE!" He then gave 'Lily' a stern look, which he was disappointed to say had no effect in the slightest, other than to make both of the girls start giggling.

Severus then took a deep breath, before saying much more coldly than even Mary had before, causing 'Lily' to stop laughing immediately as her face paled, "However, it doesn't explain the apparition, and there are more than a few ways that you could know of that without being Lily. In contrast, there are no possible explanations that I can think of that would explain OUR Lily's capability to apparate."

Realizing that he had her attention now, he then said calmly, coolly, "Now, not to be cliche, but we can do this the easy way or the hard way... The easy way would be for you to tell us the truth now, and not give us any more trouble, while the hard way..." As he spoke, Severus began to slowly push into 'Lily's' brain, using his leglimency to get to the truth of the matter...

This was proven to be a mistake when he was sent flying across the room, only to nearly impale his left shoulder upon a set of hedge-clippers... 'This could be problematic...'

* * *

Lily gasped in shock as Severus suddenly went flying across the room, but that was nothing compared to how Mary reacted: she grabbed Lily by the throat, clutching it to the point that she couldn't breathe, and pointed her wand right between Lily's eyes as she slammed her against the wall behind her.

As Lily tried desperately to take in a breath, Mary glared at her furiously and said softly, in a voice that seemed to be malice incarnate, "That...was a very big mistake, imposter... If you try anything like that again, then you will not live to regret it..." She then let go of Lily, who slumped to the ground while panting, and said in a more normal tone of voice, "...Now then, tell us the truth."

Lily, still gasping for breath, weighed her options as Severus picked himself up and walked back towards them with a look of appraisal on his face; admittedly, she had never really intended to tell them about the fact that she was from a different time-line, as it would have likely made her seem insane.

Also, Lily had grown to be quite ashamed of how she had acted in that time-line when it came to her relationship with Severus, and she didn't want to admit to him what had happened. Although their friendship was secure now, this was something that she doubted would be as easily forgiven as her merely dating Potter, as she had rejected him completely as even her friend for reasons that seemed less than good in the light of hindsight... Perhaps it would be best to not reveal the past...

As she considered this, Severus and Mary had another quiet, whispered conference, with Severus looking at her as if she were a new potion that he hadn't managed to deconstruct yet...

On the other hand, Lily was reminded strongly of her relationship with her original James, and how hurt she had been by what he had admitted in her first return to the afterlife. It had taken a long time, but the implications had been truly painful when they had sunken in...

Although by that time the break-up with this time-line's Potter had probably been inevitable, it had been devastating to her feelings for him in hindsight when Lily had realized that James had always put his attacks on her best friend as more important to him than his relationship with her...

Finally catching her breath, Lily looked up at Severus and Mary's carefully calculating faces and realized the truth: her 'choice' was really no choice at all, as there was no way she could lie to them, because she simply cared too much for them to try and deceive them... She would not make the same mistake as James, and let her lies get built on more and more as time went on, until it shattered the very trust that their relationship was built on.

Besides, they knew her even better than her original Severus and James knew her, and it was incredibly unlikely that she could outsmart them for long when it came to the battlefield of truth and lies; after all, she had never particularly learned how to lie very well...'Except to myself that is; if I think about it, the only person who was better at deceiving themself than Severus in my original time-line was me...'

* * *

As 'Lily' opened her mouth to speak, Severus nonverbally casted a Shielding charm, then made another attempt at leglimency while making sure that his back was to the wall rather than something sharp; just like before, Severus was slammed against the wall behind him by the reply.

As his head swam, Severus saw Mary point her wand at 'Lily' and shout angrily as the girl stared at him in horrified shock, clearly not knowing what had caused him to slam into the wall, "You little...! I warned you what would happen and this is how you repay me!? _AVAD_-"

Realizing that she was about to kill this girl, Severus immediately interrupted by yelling in panic, knowing that there was no other way he could stop Mary in time, "No Mary, DON'T DO IT! She didn't mean it!"

To her credit, Mary stopped immediately, but she gave 'Lily' a hate-filled glare before looking back at him and saying with fear audible in her voice, "Explain, and give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill her after what she nearly did to you twice!"

Severus swallowed, then said with a reasonable level of calm as he walked over to the two of them so that if Mary attacked he could stop her, "I had a Shielding charm on that time, and she didn't use a spell on me, only using a form of occlumency to block my leglimency...which Lily I am reasonably certain knows nothing about."

'Lily' looked utterly bewildered, as if she didn't know what he was talking about, and was about to respond when Mary beat her to it by saying coolly, "And what makes that relevant?"

'Lily' started to reply, saying "But...wha-", but Severus ignored for the moment as he tried to convince Mary not to kill her. He said simply, "The problem with that is that what she did simply isn't possible; the sheer amount of power that it would take to create such a strong mental barrier would be enough to wandlessly vanquish Dumbledore and Voldemort simultaneously with great ease. Moreover, this mental barrier seems to be always active, considering how I didn't even have a tenth of a second before she kicked me out of her mind."

As Mary sat down to think it all over, much calmer than before, 'Lily' said in a confused yet thoughtful tone, "You know, now that you mention it, the same thing happened with Dumbledore back in September. I was talking to him in his office, when he was suddenly blown across the room; perhaps he tried the same thing..."

Severus nodded, trying not to provoke her as he had absolutely no idea what this 'Lily' might be capable of; in hindsight, if she actually had the level of power she would need for that mental barrier, the only people who were in danger in this room were himself and Mary. As such, he then said simply, "Than, 'Lily', could you please explain how you could be our Lily? Don't take this the wrong way, but while our Lily might be a truly brilliant witch, there is no way she would be capable of doing something like that..."

'Lily' glared at him and Mary angrily, then said furiously, her still-beautiful green eyes flashing, "I AM 'your Lily', really I am! I'm the same Lily you've known since you were seven, Sev!" She then paused, before saying in a softer tone of voice, "However, I'm also more than her, as there is a part of me you and Mary don't know..."

As Severus and Mary looked at one another for a moment, she said quietly, "You see...I'm from a different future, one in which we all made very different choices..." Severus' eyebrows threatened to become a part of his hairline as he gaped at her in disbelief while Lily continued, "...I returned to my past, your present, the October before last in an effort to create a better future."

At first, Severus considered laughing at this clearly ridiculous idea, but then he considered for a moment; back in the October of last year, Lily had really changed all of a sudden now that he thought about it.

While the two of them had once been nearly equal in most fields of magic, with the exception of Charms and DADA, Lily had suddenly improved to the point that it was almost impossible to even attempt to keep up in EVERY class they shared. Also, while he had suspected that she might be somewhat attracted to Potter, she had suddenly all but thrown herself at him and become his girlfriend.

As Severus was coming to his own conclusions, Mary said abruptly, in a ice-cold tone of voice as she crossed her arms, "Well? If you're really from the future, tell us about it. Also, please explain how that future was SO bad that you had to come back. Lastly, WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR LILY!?"

Severus watched as Lily bit her bottom lip nervously, then looked guiltily at him, before replying quietly, "In my future, there was no _Terranum_, and you and Severus never became friends. You-Know-Who rose to power starting in our sixth year, and the only people fighting were those in the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry; with the Order outnumbered badly and the Ministry under the control of incompetents like Bagnold, we were getting slowly but surely ground into dust..."

Lily then swallowed before continuing, "Many people died fighting, or just because they were hated for their heritage; I ended up dying to protect my son, Harry Potter, when Voldemort himself came to kill us all because of a prophecy... Afterward, I was sent back to try and change what happened by changing the past by...I can't say..."

While Lily then explained that she didn't know what had happened to her counterpart in this reality, Severus' eyes widened as he tried to imagine a world without a friend such as Mary in his life; even though it had only been just over a year since they became friends, it was almost impossible to even think of a time with him and her not being friends.

It was the same way as with Lily. He had grown so close to both of them over the past year that the thought of losing either one of them was comparable to thoughts of losing one of his arms... Speaking of which...

"Lily, what happened to all of us in that time-line? You said that Mary and I never became friends, but what else happened? Were we OK...?"

Lily continued looking at him, guilt filling her eyes to the brim as she wrapped her arms around herself as if for protection, then said, "We had a falling out..."

* * *

"We had a falling out..."

After saying this, Lily looked at Mary with a pleading expression on her face; understanding immediately, Mary then walked out the door outside the shed they were in. Upon shutting the door behind her, she walked a bit further away so that she could be sure that she wouldn't overhear, as she knew that this conversation was one which was best kept private.

In hindsight, what Lily had told them made sense, even though she had clearly left out a fair bit. It explained why Lily had changed so radically about a year ago, as she had seemed to go from being attracted to yet disgusted by James Potter to clearly being in love with the man. It also explained why her spellwork had suddenly surpassed that of even some of the teachers...

Mary then looked into the swiftly darkening sky as she sat down in the middle of the overgrown field, eyes beginning to water as she realized just how close she had come to making the biggest mistake of her life in that shed. '...And I nearly killed her... I was the one who nearly killed one of my two best friends in the world, and if Severus hadn't shouted, I would have used the killing curse on her...'

Mary then broke into tears; she had been so scared when Lily had nearly impaled Severus that she had let her protective instincts get the better of her when it happened again. If Severus had been a second too late, then she would have done something that she would never be able to undo...

'I hope that I never make a mistake like that again, ever...'

* * *

Lily's throat went dry after Mary left, and she could barely look at Severus without feeling like scum, her eyes pleading with him to understand as she told him her tale in a hoarse, guilty whisper,

"Do you remember how, back in fourth year it appeared that we were growing apart at first? Well, in my time-line, we kept drifting apart; you drifted closer to your Slytherin friends and I to my Gryffindor ones, and we started arguing more and more whenever we talked."

She swallowed, then continued in a voice that was less hoarse, but equally remorseful, "It really started to show the first, and in that time-line only, time that Black tried to have you killed using Remus Lupin's werewolf form. I was annoyed with you for being so ungrateful that James had rescued you, and when you hinted to me that there was more to the story than just the rumors I refused to listen. Also, when you compared the Marauders to your friends, I completely missed the point and only focused on your friends' use of Dark magic while acting like a total hypocrite."

Lily paused, then said quietly as she looked up at him, "Mind you, you also refused to listen to me about your friends and the Death Eaters, but I was acting worse I think; I wanted to believe that you were just being paranoid about what you were saying about Potter and being ungrateful by comparing him to 'scum' like how I thought your friends were. You were dropping anvil-sized hints throughout the conversation as to how James hadn't really been as good as he appeared, but I choose to ignore them..."

As Severus frowned at her, Lily continued although she felt lower than dirt, "...Things didn't improve from then, only getting worse as we each refused to listen to each other as we both drifted apart. It is understandable in hindsight, as Mulciber seems to care a great deal for your friendship even if he shows it in a very evil way, but I didn't understand how Mulciber could be your friend when he treated my friends so poorly and I'm sure you felt similarly about the my Gryffindor friends and I..."

Severus then cleared his throat, before saying uncomfortably, "It was mostly because I couldn't see how you could even think anything good about people who would beat me up, when none of my friends ever attacked you. Now that I've gotten to know some of your Gryffindor friends, or former Gryffindor friends I suppose, I can see why you would like them even if they always laughed at me. You liked them because they were generally good people, even if they did something you disliked..."

Lily smiled slightly at his giving her the benefit of the doubt, but it faded fast as she said, "Things got really bad in fifth year, although we both pretended that everything was still fine; I was starting to believe that you had changed into a person that I...didn't want to be friends with anymore..."

As Severus looked at her with hurt eyes, Lily continued, hoping to explain and trying desperately take away the pain in his eyes, "You started calling just every Muggleborn but me a 'Mudblood', and were clearly very interested in the Dark Arts and joining the Death Eaters. I ignored it though, pretending that everything was alright to you... Finally, at the end of the year, the 'incident' happened..."

Severus said nothing, and Lily pushed the words out of her mouth in an effort to explain, hating this moment most of all, "It was just after the DADA O.W.L.s, and you were reading by yourself while I played by the water with my Gryffindor girlfriends, Mary and Sabrina; James then attacked you from behind, hexing you, and I came to your defense only for you to call me a 'Mudblood in repayment for saving you. At least, that's what I felt happened at the time..."

She then said quietly, meekly, as Severus looked at her questioningly, "It actually wasn't until much later that I found out how it had appeared, and ironically Mary was the one to do it; you see, while you were on the ground choking on soap bubbles from one of James' hexes, I was bantering with him as to why I didn't want to date him at the time. While you were being humiliated in front of me, with everyone laughing, I was flirting with the man who was humiliating you! I didn't mean to do it, mind you, but I did it all the same."

Severus sat down and looked away, and Lily walked over so that she could see him, barely realizing that the ropes had somehow vanished. After a few moments, she continued as she put her arm on his shoulder, trying to comfort him and comfort herself at the same time,

"The night afterward was perhaps the defining moment of the difference between what our friendship was and what it should have been; you came up to Gryffindor tower, begging me for forgiveness, clearly remorseful for your actions. You were truly repentent, and knowing what I do now, I think that I could have probably made you crawl for fire if it would buy you my forgiveness and you would have done so. If there was anything that could have been done at that moment to save our friendship, then I think that you would have done it..."

Lily withdrew her arm, wrapping both of them around her chest as she sat down next to him and looked away; she then said bitterly, "I didn't do that; I was so hurt by what you had done and what I had thought had happened that between it and the problems we had been having, I just couldn't take it anymore and gave up..."

As tears started to fill Lily's eyes, she spoke in a voice that was filled with the same crushing guilt she felt, "I cruelly threw your apology in your face and said that I couldn't pretend anymore, then said that I could no longer be friends with you, that it was time we went our seperate ways."

Lily didn't even have to look at Severus to know that he was disappointed in her, and that he felt utterly betrayed by what she had told him; it was a sign of how close that they had gotten over the past year. She waited a few minutes, hoping that he would say something, anything but this dreadful silence; finally, realizing that he wasn't going to speak, she said while hiccuping,

"Afterward, I regretted how it had ended and considered asking if I could be your friend again many times, provided that you stop your 'mad desires' to join the Death Eaters. However, whenever you saw me, you would look at me in such a way that I couldn't bring myself to ask; I thought it was anger at the time, and it might have been, but I think now that you were looking at me in hurt. You had never told me, but you were deeply in love with me...something that is now completely obvious to me in hindsight, and I had broken your heart..."

Severus just sat there, and Lily continued in a rush, desperately wanting to get to the end of this sordid tale before her tears escaped her eyes, "You ended up joining the Death Eaters, with me marrying James and joining the Order while becoming an Auror. Although you never committed any atrocities to my knowledge, you took out quite a few of the Ministry Aurors, including several of my own friends. Finally, you stumbled upon a prophecy and relayed it to You-Know-Who..."

After pausing to take a breath, Lily kept speaking, her voice slowly growing nostalgic as she said, "...Upon finding out that the prophecy, which referred to a child who could kill You-Know-Who, meant me, James and Harry... You first begged Voldemort to spare me, then went over to Dumbledore and promised him that you would do anything he wanted in return for him keeping me and my family safe, even becoming a spy for the Order for my sake..."

Lily looked at Severus and smiled sadly as her tears began to sting her eyes, then spoke, "Unfortunately, even though you tried to save me with all your heart, the girl who had broken yours...my family and I were all betrayed to our deaths by Peter Pettigrew... Still, when I found out about it a short time ago, I was overcome with gratitude. You had loved me so much that even though I had rejected you so painfully, you had done everything you could to save me and my family..."

She wanted to continue, explaining everything, but she got all choked up and she could only sob brokenly; she then felt Severus' arms around her, pulling her back into his warm chest as she continued to cry. Finally, he said quietly, pressing her head to his neck while doing so,

"Do you know one of the reasons that I've always forgiven you when you pull some stupid stunt or put your foot in your mouth, Lily? It's because I believe that you never intentionally try to hurt me, even when you do. I think that maybe he forgave you because he realized how much you regretted our friendship's end as well."

He paused for a moment, then said softly, "Besides, although you may have made a mistake in your first time around, I could not wish for a better friend than you have been in this time-line. Even when I rejected you, you didn't give up on our friendship in this reality." He then hugged her closer to him and continued, "Lily, I love you for what you are and have been to me, not for what you think you are..."

Lily didn't want to feel better, wanting instead to feel the pain she thought she deserved to feel, but she couldn't help but to relax in Severus' comforting embrace as she felt a little less sad thanks to Severus' words...

**Author's Note: **Some things to keep in mind: Lily does NOT know about how Severus first asked for only her safety from Dumbledore, although I personally suspect that that was more of a priority thing than Severus actually wanting the rest of the Potters in danger, although I cannot say that is the case for sure.

Also, as may be obvious, Lily is going through quite a bit of self-hatred in this chapter and other recent ones about how she feels she treated Severus. It's basically what happened with Sabrina and Mulciber, but far bigger as she knows that she will never be able to repay her original Severus for what he has done for her.

Don't be afraid; this is not a one-chapter confession, as Lily has quite a bit more that she needs to say and get off her chest before she feels she can even consider forgiving herself. It's really quite a good thing that she has Sev there to help her...

I don't know if this chapter is too sappy or not, but I hope that it's OK, as I generally try to avoid doing sappy...

On a offtopic, remember that Mary is an Auror under Crouch, so using the Killing Curse is A'OK for her legally...


	54. The Lily's Tale Part Two

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 54**

**The Lily's Tale Part Two**

_...You are forgiven because they were mistakes, not purposeful..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Wednesday January 6th, 1976_**

While Lily seemed to relax for the moment in his embrace, Severus thought to himself about what he had heard from her; it seemed impossible that she would have actually gone ahead and married Potter after what had happened to their relationship in this time-line. It wasn't because Severus simply couldn't imagine Lily marrying the prat, or that ever so small feeling of jealousy in his stomach...well, not completely at least.

Severus really just couldn't understand because if Lily had married the bloke, then even Severus had to admit that the odds of her choosing to reject her 'husband' when she relived her life would be quite unlikely, even if it was a person who was as scummy as Potter. Of course, maybe she finally did realize just how much of a prat he was. Still though...

'Why would she have done it after Potter HAD changed for the better? I hate how he's been acting recently, as he's been joining in on that ridiculous witch-hunt against Lily, but even though I hate him I have to admit that for an enemy he wasn't so bad at the time...' Severus pondered this, then decided to ask the source of this information, who was sitting comfortably in his lap...

Not much wanting to disturb her as Lily seemed to have finally managed to stop crying, but hoping that this would help Lily get off of a depressing topic as well as help him understand something, Severus cradled her to his chest and asked quietly,

"I know that this might seem like a strange question, but it's something that I don't really understand; if you married Potter, then why did you break up with him and decide to pursue me? I mean, if you loved him enough to marry him in the first place, then why give it up?"

For a moment, Severus thought that she might not have heard him, but then Lily turned her head to look at him in confusion as she said, "Uh, what? I mean, I understand the question, but is that REALLY what you want your first question to be about? I betrayed you horribly and your only concern is why I decided I want to go out with you instead of Potter?"

Severus felt his face heating up as he started to stammer for a moment, and Lily looked at him skeptically for several seconds before bursting into a peal of laughter as she smiled for a moment as she muttered something about "Boys...", although it soon faded; still, Severus was glad that she had managed to stop wearing that broken look for even a few seconds...

Finally, she replied with a tired frown on her face as she looked up into his eyes with her emerald green ones, "I suppose that I can explain it, but it'll take a while, and I don't want to keep Mary waiting forever..."

Severus shrugged at this, and Lily said quietly, rather pink in the face, "Well, this isn't something that I wanted to mention before, but..." She looked at him in remorse she said with a sad giggle, a mockery of 'girl's gossip' if he ever saw one, "...I doubt you notice it much, but Potter is really, REALLY handsome, even if his personality used to be comparable to that of a horse's rear end. While I didn't like him much as a person at first, I definitely admired his appearance, even in my fourth year the first time around."

As Severus started to reconsider his topic, looking at her in utter disbelief and mortification, Lily chuckled for a moment and said, "Hey, you asked, and don't worry all that much; he might be a very physically attractive boy, but you aren't awful either. I mean..."

Lily looked at him apologetically, before saying, "...I can't say that you will ever be considered as a model or anything, and your hair isn't ever going to be that great unless you decide to give up on potions for the rest of your life, but you have a pretty good physique now that you've gotten fed up a bit. Still, there is one thing that you'll DEFINITELY grow into when you get older..."

Severus' eyes widened, then he started smirking in a mischievous grin, which had Lily looking confused for a moment before her face went red and she shouted in a clearly horrified mortification, "Not THAT thing, Severus, get your mind out of the gutter! I meant that your VOICE will be what you grow into; it's going to turn...rather nice indeed..."

She then paused for a moment, before saying coolly, although the pink on her face was still there showing her embarrassment, "In any case, that is all beside the point; the main thing is that I found Potter physically attractive, alright?"

Severus nodded as he waited for Lily to continue, jealousy that he couldn't quite manage to suppress creeping through his veins, in spite of the fact that that battle had ended ages ago...

* * *

Lily could see Severus' jealousy seething around him like a black cloud and paused for a moment, unsure if it would be such a good idea to tell him what happened, but said apprehensively nonetheless,

"Well, the thing to understand about James is that he is a very all-or-nothing kind of guy; either he thinks that you are a good person and he'll do just about anything for you and trust you implicitly or he thinks that you're not a good person and he'll make your life a living hell, OK? It's a very black-and-white view of the world, but that's how it goes. At least, that was what I had always thought..."

Lily sighed as she described her once-cherished memory to him, "...You see, after the first Werewolf incident, he told me about how you had been following him around and got yourself in trouble and how he had to save your life..."

At Severus' look of distaste, Lily hastened to explain. "Hey, it's what HE said, alright? However, at the time and in my reality, I believed that it was the complete and total truth. Thanks to the oath that Dumbledoremade you swear, you couldn't reveal the REAL truth, and I didn't believe the hints that you dropped at the time. Perhaps it's because I didn't want to believe them..."

She turned back around and pressed herself against his chest, afraid to look into his eyes but unwilling to give up his comfort, then Lily said sadly,

"Suddenly, I started honestly considering him as a 'potential', although I still wasn't all THAT interested in him. After all, he had saved the boy he described many a time as his 'worst enemy' for no real benefit. I tried to hide it from you, as you became positively raving about him, something which is easily understandable if you consider how he was behind the 'prank' to begin with and YOU had been forced to cover it up. I didn't know about your reasons at the time though, and to me you just appeared ungrateful..."

Lily could feel Severus flinch as she said this, but she held his hands close to her stomach in order to sooth him before continuing,

"Well anyway, after our falling out at the end of O.W.L.s, James stopped his bullying of anyone and became quite a bit less arrogant. This brought our similarities to the fore: our similar outlooks on the world, our equal distaste for the Death Eaters, our enjoyment of life and having 'fun' rather than thinking about serious matters. Ironically, he was very different from you and yet I was attracted greatly to him, or perhaps it wasn't so ironic...

Severus then interrupted, voice crackling with jealousy and disdain, although much less than it had been even a year ago, "I SUPPOSE I can see why that would have made you consider James I suppose, although he probably was still a gigantic pain-in-the-rear. However, I don't see what that would have to do with your dumping him in THIS time-line-"

Lily quickly interjected in sudden annoyance, as she did NOT want to drag out this topic, both because the rivalry between the two boys should be left in the past where it belonged and because she needed to tell him the thing that troubled her most... "Are you telling the story or am I?"

Severus quickly halted his questioning, and Lily continued with a sigh,

"Well, we started going out in seventh year, and I found myself falling in love with him. We continued dating after we left Hogwarts and a year later James proposed to me and I accepted...although an incident a few days before the wedding caused the wedding to be postponed when he told me what had happened in the Shrieking Shack in our fourth year. Nonetheless, I forgave him, partially because he had truly changed his ways when he had stopped attacking you in Seventh year. He even told me that he regretted it greatly because he then realized how much it hurt me."

Lily paused for a moment, before admitting,

"At that time, if you had asked me whether or not I considered him the love of my life, I would have answered 'yes' without a doubt in my mind. I truly thought that the two of us were soul-mates and that he was my 'one', so to speak. Any of the cliches about absolute, true love would have been considered true, as I truly did love James. Even if you ask me now, when I've learned that soul-mates truly don't exist and that the 'one' is a lie, I would have to say that nothing I felt before him could have matched how I felt about him..."

After a moment, during which she could tell that Severus went positively rigid although he didn't let go of her, Lily continued the tale of her love story with James Potter, "We had a son as I mentioned earlier, Harry, and we continued fighting against You-Know-Who's forces; unfortunately, as I told you before, we were completely overwhelmed."

Tears beginning to run down her cheeks, both because of the story she was telling and the memories of all the people she had watched die, Lily whispered,

"Many of the members of the Order had to go into hiding lest he kill them, only to die anyway when he found them. After I turned twenty, the prophecy regarding our family meant that it was our turn to hide... We entrusted our safety in the hands of Peter Pettigrew, only to die when he betrayed us for whatever reason; although You-Know-Who offered to spare my life for Harry's, I couldn't allow that to happen and sacrificed myself to create a blood-charm to protect my son."

In spite of the tears still spilling from her eyes, Lily smiled slightly as she looked back up at Severus once more, "I then returned to the past, where I immediately tried to save you from the path you had taken in my time-line, obviously succeeding once I got Mary's help. I tried to rebuild my relationship with the man who had been my husband, although as the two of you got closer I couldn't help myself from getting jealous, even though I resisted it as best I could..."

Severus then broke in, asking in confusion, speaking slowly as if to a child, "You gave up a relationship with the man you considered the 'love of your life' because you got jealous of Mary and me? Excuse me Lily, but even considering that it's Potter, that is more than mildly insane."

Lily chuckled, realizing how absurd she had made it sound, before continuing with a sigh,

"If it had been that easy to get me to change my mind about James, then I would never have married him in the first place. No, what happened was I tried to change this time-line's James to be more like his future incarnation, realizing that I couldn't have my husband and my best friend keep fighting like the two of you were... If I did, then eventually I would have to give one of the two of you up, for all intents and purposes. It was problematic at first, but I thought it would get better over time, at least I did until when I went unconscious after you told me you loved me..."

Lily then sighed once more, saying simply,

"I can't tell you how, but I found out from my original James that he had never actually stopped bullying you, and had only been lying to me about it when he said he regretted it. My feelings for this James started to fade soon after that, as I realized something subconsciously: James' love for me was not and might never be as important to him as his hatred of you. In simple terms, to him I was second-best to you..."

Lily looked into his eyes deeply, trying to see what emotions he might be hiding in them as she continued, "I probably would have broken up with him well before the end of last term, having realized that, if it weren't for the fact that I still had no idea as to what you had done for me in my time-line. Nonetheless, I was falling for you very hard, even though I tried to deny it."

Pausing as his eyes seemed to spark slightly, she then said simply, watching his reactions as she did so, "My original James revealed what your counterpart had done for me to me right after the second Werewolf incident, when I was unconscious after you and Mary had left to see the Headmaster..."

As Severus looked at her in surprise, Lily twisted around so that she could hug him. While doing so, she sat up so that her emerald green eyes were staring straight into his shining black ones, barely even whispering as she said,

"It was only then that I realized the truth: in your counterpart's eyes, I had been more important to him than anything. His dreams, his hatred of James, his near-lust for power and respect, all of that had been worth sacrificing to him so that I could be safe. Even though I had rejected even his FRIENDSHIP, he loved me enough to change sides just to try and protect me."

Sensing the obvious objection, Lily said quickly as her world shrunk down to Severus' eyes,

"Don't misunderstand me, I don't love you because of what he did for me, as truly incredible as that was. It just showed me what I had blinded myself to in YOUR feelings and actions, how much you truly cared for me, and just what sort of incredible person I was missing out on because I thought YOU didn't care for ME like I did for you."

Severus seemed to think for a moment, then he asked skeptically, his eyes blank for the moment, "Lily, if that was the case, then why did you wait until August to break up with Potter? Did it really take you that long to change your mind?"

Lily, remembering that Summer, then looked at him with a hurt look in her eyes as she said, "I couldn't break up with James over the first part of the Summer because I was too busy sending my owl over to you in order to try and get you to forgive me, otherwise I would have told both you and him the same day that I woke up again just how much I loved you..."

Severus looked at her in embarrassment, then muttered, "Er...Mary was kinda screening my mail at the time; after all, we thought that you had just tried to kill me and all..."

Although it had been a long while, it did feel good to have that mystery cleared up after so long; however, that happy feeling went away as Lily started to explain her biggest regret of all...

* * *

Although Severus did feel good to have a few things cleared up, and his feeling of jealousy was mostly assuaged, he couldn't help but feel a little unhappy at the wriggling thought in the back of his mind that he had been second choice for Lily. Nonetheless, he tried to comfort himself by pointing out that he might have been second chosen, but he was likely best...although it would have made his internal debate between the two girls FAR easier if he had found out he wasn't the best in Lily's heart.

Before he could get back to that particularly confusing topic though, Lily said, "Severus, there is one thing that I regret most of all about everything: how I refused to even listen to your thoughts on the matter, absolutely sure that I was the only one who could have been right. I refused to accept your friends as REAL friends because I didn't want to think of them as anything about evil..."

Pausing, Lily then said after shaking her head, causing her red hair to swish gracefully in Severus' peripheral vision,

"No, not just your thoughts, everything that didn't conform with what I wanted to be reality I ignored; I allowed myself to become willfully blind because it was SOOO much easier than actually having to think about your arguments and consider them. Instead of trying to debate with you like we used to enjoy doing, I simply tried to tell you what was right and didn't listen to any counter-arguments."

She looked away for a moment, then her pleading eyes looked back into his as she spoke,

"I think that I WANTED James to be a good person, suitable for me to date so I wouldn't feel guilty for being attracted to him, so I ignored all of the warning signs. In hindsight, I could have seen them every time I mentioned the incident in front of the rest of the Marauders, as Remus would glare as Sirius and he would look mildly abashed. Hell, you were practically spitting out warning signs with everything you did, and I ignored them rather than seriously consider them."

Lily paused, then said quietly, shifting uncomfortably on his lap as she did so, "It was the same way with your Slytherin friends, as I WANTED them to be evil, so I refused to listen to you when you told me about their good traits. It was just convenient for me to believe of them as pure evil, so I did, rather than going for a logical argument."

As Severus thought about this, realizing that she had a point there and not just in her own perspective on his friends, as he had found that he had made his own misevaluations about them. For example, he had ignored just what Avery and Mulciber were capable of, much to his detriment... Lily then said with a slight smile, "Still, I'm glad that I didn't make that mistake in this time-line..."

Thinking of the time-line she had previously described, Severus had to agree with a shiver. Meanwhile, Lily continued with a wry smirk,

"In some ways, having lost your friendship then going back beforehand was the best thing that ever happened to it, as I was forced to listen to you in order to be able to persuade you you were wrong. Ironically, in listening in order to prove you wrong, I also found that you were right in some ways! Your friends DID have good point, and really WERE good friends, not just evil monsters! Mind you, I think that Avery should burn in hell now, but I can see why you wanted to be friends with him at the time."

Lily's eyes then started to blaze as she started to speak more passionately, making Severus feel like he had been suddenly caught inside of a thunderstorm as he couldn't help but stare transfixedly into her shining eyes, the tempest's heart,

"Because I had to listen as well as preach, I realized that a simple Black-and-White view of the world just. Couldn't. Cut. It! I had to learn to understand blue, green, grey, yellow, red, all those colors and many more! In doing this, I found myself changing just as much as you and Mary changed! I was finally able to see the true depths of my best friend, and how he SHINED in spite of the darkness that he cloaked himself in! I saw his sufferings, his dreams, his aspirations and realized that they made him far more than the simple white and black I had always believed in!"

She then slowed down, before saying just as passionately, but a touch quieter, "You broke me out of the trap which I had made for myself, a trap of illusions and denials, lies and false beliefs. I believed that it was truth incarnate, but you showed me that it was only a cage which I had crafted for myself, a cage that cost me my sister and best friend and caused me to marry a man who put his desire to have me over being honest to the woman he loved. Out of this cage, I saw something that I hadn't anticipated discovering, but am glad I found..."

Lily's voice then dropped to a whisper as she continued, "...I saw YOU, and I found that YOU were someone who I loved more than anyone, past, present or future..."

For one perfect moment, Severus Snape would always swear his entire world consisted of nothing more and nothing less than Lily Evans, for he couldn't see, hear, smell or feel anything but her sitting on his lap and gazing fiercely into his eyes...

* * *

After revealing so much of her thoughts and feelings to Severus, Lily was sure that she should be feeling very embarrassed indeed, but she found that she couldn't quite manage it. After considering it for a little bit though, she had a bit of an epiphany as to why it wasn't embarrassing at all.

It wasn't embarrassing to have confessed her love to him and her reasons for it because it was more than mere feelings or emotions of love, instead being nothing more than a simple truth: Lily Evans loves Severus Snape. Somehow, over the past year it had become a certainty to the level that it was comparable to saying that Lily Evans is alive and exists...

Unfortunately, her contemplations were interrupted by Severus shifting his legs beneath her uncomfortably, as existing also implied having a body; the problem with that was that her weight was clearly starting to become rather uncomfortable for him, although she had a rather slim figure...

Realizing this, Lily quickly got off of him and offered him her hand to help him up while standing up herself. Severus being Severus, he looked at her hand with a frown for a moment before taking it and allowing her to help him to his feet. He then said with a touch of embarrassment,

"Lily, you might be right about your mistakes, but you aren't the only one; although it wasn't until March that I admitted it to myself, I knew that you were right about the Death Eaters long ago. It's just that I didn't want to accept it. You weren't the only one who preferred to live in illusions and denials... As such, I forgive you for your mistakes, because you weren't the only one and you didn't mean to make them."

Lily chuckled with him, feeling a warm feeling as he admitted this to her, and she hugged him in gratitude. After a few seconds, he appeared content, but then his face took on a serious cast. For a moment he simply looked at her, then he said quietly, his dark eyes almost hiding the slight trace of fear and insecurity in them in them,

"Lily, I know that you are grateful to my counterpart and me for what we did, but how do you know that you love me and aren't just thankful for what we have given? I don't want you to love me just because you want to thank me for what you have given me, so are you sure that it's really love that you feel and not merely gratitude?"

For a moment, Lily considered answering with something simple like "Yes, Sev, of course I'm sure. Don't be silly!", but dismissed such an answer as unworthy of the seriousness of the question. Taking a moment to think it over, she said slowly, her voice gaining in strength with every word spoken,

"Sev...I know because everytime that we're doing something together, even when it's something as simple as working together on a Potions project, I feel like my day has lightened somehow just because it's you. I know because everytime you and I talk, I feel like I've somehow become a better 'Lily' than before that moment. I know because every time we're alone together, finding the nearest solid object and pressing you up against it to kiss you while pushing myself up against you seems like a bloody brilliant idea..."

Lily then paused, looking him directly in the eyes and placing her hands on his shoulders while saying, "Sev, I am glad that you have shown me so much love, but that is not why I love you; I love you because I feel affection for you, because I feel desire for you, because I feel that my days are better because you're around! I know what it feels like to love someone so much that you want to spend the rest of your life with them, and I KNOW that I feel that way about you!"

As the two of them seemed to lean closer with each word, almost as if drawn by a force of gravity, Lily said quietly and clearly,

"Severus, the person I was was a girl who only saw things in black and white and cost herself the greatest friendship I ever heard of because she wasn't able to look beyond those two colors; she loved James. I have seen so much more because of my best friend, and want to always be beside him so that we can learn more from and about each other. Even if I had been right about James, and he had been what he claimed to be, I would still choose you now..."

Lily looked at Severus' face, his lips no more than a few inches from her own, and slowly pushed forward while pulling him toward her; as she pressed her lips to his, she saw a flicker of doubt run through his eyes, but it passed as he deepened the kiss...

As her body pressed up against Severus', in spite of all the many mistakes she had made, Lily felt redeemed...

* * *

_"...don't care about what he's done to make himself 'immortal', the Dementor's Soul will still end the life of that monster! THE DARK LORD WILL FALL!"_

Mary woke up, then stretched in a yawn, having fallen asleep before while Severus and Lily were still talking. She didn't know what the dream meant, but if it was like the rest of her dreams...

She quickly ran over toward the shed door where she had left Severus and Lily inside; night had fallen while she was sleeping, but she doubted that the two of them were in any real danger. Opening her mouth and filling her lungs with air as she prepared to inform them of her discovery, she opened the door, only to halt suddenly.

Dumbstruck in horror at the sight she had witnessed, she slowly shut the door behind her before walking back out into the dark, tears of betrayel filling her eyes as she mentally replayed the scene she had just witnessed again and again: Severus and Lily in a tight embrace, fiercely kissing each other for everything they were worth...

As Mary's tears rained down from her face, only one thought could make itself heard in the sheer hurt that filled her heart and mind, 'H-how...? It was s-supposed to be me...'

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay, as my computer ate the last third of this chapter right as I was about to post it last night, but I hope that it was worth the wait. I still don't know how the chapter became a love-confession from Lily, but it somehow seemed right, so I went with it.

As for Severus' self-promise and the kiss...while Severus might be very good at keeping his word, I doubt that even a saint could keep himself from doing anything when a woman he loves is kissing him after she confessed his love to him. In spite of the kiss, the love-triangle isn't over...

I hope that the sappiness of most of this chapter doesn't go over too badly. I have a general distaste towards sap, but sometimes you have to include it; I'll just make sure to kill a Gryffindor or two to make up for it=).


	55. Wars of Blood and Hearts

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 55**

**Wars of Blood and Hearts  
**

_I will never give up, not so long as there is something worth fighting for...  
_

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

"So, Sev, I'm going to drop off Mary at her house after stopping at mine, then head back. That alright?"

"Sure, Lily, but before you do..."

"...sounds good..."

Mary said nothing as they returned home through Lily's apparition, merely staring numbly and grunting when it proved necessary, too busy thinking about what she had witnessed in that shed...

Watching Severus and Lily kissing like that had been very painful indeed, painful because she suspected that it meant that he had chosen Lily...chosen Lily and not her.

It was especially painful when she saw Lily's brilliant smile, cheerfully smiling like she could take on the world. Severus' own smile had been small, but Mary could see the utter bliss behind it. She hated those smiles, hated them because it wasn't because of her that Severus and Lily were smiling like that...but all the same, she loved those smiles because it meant that Severus was happy, even if she couldn't be with him.

Laughing bitterly for a moment, she mused to herself, 'I'm really screwed up, aren't I?'

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump slightly. Turning and seeing that it was Severus, she raised her eyebrow at him, only for him to say with a touch of sheepishness, "Err, Lily's waiting to take you home and such. She's in the kitchen..."

"Right..." drawled Mary, brushing his hand off of her shoulder, leaving it hanging as she watched his eyes flicker slightly. She wanted to say something, ask him what was going on with Lily, perhaps tell him about her dream, but in the end she just slowly walked away. Wanting to cry, she was unprepared when Severus spoke again quietly.

"Mary, I...I think that we need to talk sometime, sometime soon. Not tonight, but soon... I-I need to think about something first..." he mumbled slightly, before saying with a sigh, worry audible in his voice, "Just...just make sure you're alright, OK?"

Understanding that he wasn't just referring to the battles tonight, Mary nodded without looking at him. "Sure, Sev, I'll make sure that I'm fine. Don't worry..."

For a moment, she thought that Severus might say something, but he let her walk over to the kitchen where Lily was finishing her explanation about what had happened during the battle to her mother. Lily had a smile on her face that couldn't be wiped off, but Marigold was looking very apprehensive, probably worried at how there had been a battle that night...

"And so the three of us managed to take 'em out, forcing them to retreat and killing at least one of them. I just hope that we didn't break the Statute of Secrecy with how we set the forest ablaze..." Lily said with a slight sigh. However, Mary could tell that she was still unable to stop grinning. It was probably due to that kiss that she and Severus had shared... By the end of Mary's relationship with Severus, he had become a very good kisser indeed

Still, Mary clenched her hand into a fist, irked at how Lily was so happy while she was so miserable. It was almost as if she were adding insult to injury, what with how it seemed that Lily was rubbing it in Mary's face as to the reason for her happiness...

Meanwhile, Marigold Evans spoke with a frown, her eyebrows both raised as she gave her daughter a stern look."Lily...are you sure that you should be doing this? Going around and fighting these...Death Eaters? I mean, you're a bright young woman...but don't they have an army or something to handle this?"

Deciding to back Lily up, in spite of how annoyed she might have been with her right then, Mary spoke up, "Mrs. Evans, I'm sorry to say it, but the 'army' of the wizarding world is...less than adequate to fight those Death Eaters. Besides, in a manner of speaking, we are part of the army. We're training to fight the Death Eaters so that when we leave school, the wizarding world will have a means to stop them."

Marigold blanched, then narrowed her eyes at Mary. "'Mary' was it? Well, I can't say that I'm comfortable with the idea of my fifteen year-old daughter fighting in a war, even if it's NOT until she leaves school! In fact, I'm very much against the idea of such a thing! What kind of moron was the person who came up with the idea to have children be the ones to fight in this war!? And you, Lily!"

The red-headed woman whirled on Lily, who backed up quickly, clearly afraid of her mother in this state. "What could you have possibly been THINKING!? Why, I have half a mind to have you leave this 'wizarding world' if they want you to die for it!"

Lily then rushed over to Mary, saying hurriedly as her mother started shouting even louder than before, "Come on, Mary. We're already late, so we'd better get going, NOW!" Grabbing Mary before she could respond, the two of them apparated to the front of Mary's house.

Not expecting a sudden apparition, Mary promptly started throwing up into a nearby hedge, during which Lily apologized profusely for not warning her. Although it annoyed Mary even more on a night where she had already had to deal with far too many annoyances, it wasn't too awful, although she was glad that Severus wasn't there to see her puking her guts out. Regardless, it sure beat having to deal with that demented demon that Lily called her mother.

Besides, Mary needed time to plan out her next move. First she would ask her new sister for advice in how to 'woo' Severus; after all, Celeste had been getting boys to drool in her presence almost since she had first arrived at Hogwarts. How hard could it be for her to find a way for Mary to win Severus? 'If Severus chooses Lily over me...I can live with that, but I'm certainly going to make it as hard of a choice as I possibly can!'

Nothing less than that would suffice.

* * *

**_Three Days Later Saturday January 7th, 1976_**

'OK, just focus on the light-bulb in the ceiling, Severus. Look at how brightly it illuminates the room, making everything...'

Severus stared up at the pristine, whitewashed ceiling of the Evans family guest bedroom, idly wondering how they managed to keep it cobweb-free without the use of magic...or a truly ridiculous sum of money like that which Mary's parents had. Somehow, every surface seemed to sparkle even after several weeks of his staying there. Even the sheets seemed untouched, as if someone had put a spell on them to keep them clean. Severus supposed that perhaps it was because Mrs. Evans seemed to translate her more aggressive tendencies to cleaning.

If this was so, he couldn't blame her.

There were far worse things to channel one's anger into, as Severus' own father demonstrated. The man's rages could put any of Severus' to shame; his dad just didn't have the same temper control that Severus did. 'Hell, even Mary has better control of her anger than my father does, and she likes turning it into angels made out of fiendfyre...'

Snarling as he was reminded anew of the subject he'd spent three hours trying to avoid thinking about, Severus realized that he'd failed miserably. He muttered several destructive curses that would have demolished the room had he been holding his wand, glaring at the ceiling overhead and its blasted, useless light-bulb. 'OK, let's focus now. What would Lily...argh! Oh to hell with it...'

Giving up his attempts at avoiding the situation as a bad job, he then sighed as he sat up. Severus glared moodily at the nearby window, drumming his fingers against his hip as he ran things over once more. 'OK, so I kissed Lily, who I love and is quite frankly an amazing kisser, but I also love Mary and I don't know if I want to give up on her. After all, she's brilliant, understanding, has a truly incredible body with amazing breasts...But I also want Lily, and quite frankly...THIS IS STUPID!'

Annoyed, Severus hurled his pillow against the nearby window with a soft 'thud', before glaring at his reflection in the un-streaked glass. "This is just perfect... What do I do now!?"

His reflection provided no answer, a fact which didn't surprise the Slytherin boy in the least. Still, he was able to release a bit of the anger he was feeling with the exclamation, although that didn't help him much. One of his biggest weaknesses had always been making choices for himself, as he was always more than afraid of rocking the boat, and he knew from Lily's tale that he had avoided a very dark fate by barely a few inches. If she hadn't come back in time...he could have very easily seen her reality's future happening.

Although he felt that he had gotten a bit better about it, what with how he had changed sides of his own accord when he had finally admitted the truth to himself, Severus knew that he still had a tendency to avoid making difficult decisions until they were forced upon him. This time though, it was about something more important than war; it was about the two people he valued most. He couldn't afford to make the wrong choice...not this time.

However, he was distracted from his thoughts by a knock at the door and Petunia's quiet question, "Excuse me, Severus. Mind if I come in? You've got everybody worried with how you've been holed up in your room..."

As she let her words hang in the air, Severus felt a flash of guilt; he hadn't realized that they would have worried about his absences, figuring that they would have assumed him to be studying. As such, he opened the door and allowed Petunia entry before returning to sit on the bed again. At least it wasn't Lily, who was more observant than her sister...and was the primary reason for him being holed up in his room.

Instead of questioning him though, Petunia looked around the room slowly, before saying peevishly, "Geez, Severus, you may be our guest but that doesn't give you the excuse to mess up our guest room. It's positively filthy!"

Severus rolled his eyes, never able to understand how a perfectly clean room could look filthy in the eyes of either Petunia or her mother. However, Petunia had already continued talking. Speaking excitedly, she quickly asked, a slight tinge of pink adorning her cheeks, "In any case, why have you been avoiding my sister? Was the kiss really that bad? Lily said that it was pretty good and all, but she always thinks that she does a good job with everything..."

"I...it was... Lily told you?" Severus asked weakly as Petunia simply nodded, a mischievous grin on her rather-reddened face. As his face heated up from embarrassment at the idea of Petunia of all people being involved in his 'love life', Severus wondered just how many people Lily had already told about the kiss. 'In hindsight, expecting her to keep something like this a secret...not one of my better assumptions. So much for keeping it from Mary until I had decided what to do...'

Still grinning, apparently enjoying how he was on the wrong foot for a change, the blond girl then sat next to him on the bed. Petunia then asked with a touch of teasing audible in her voice, sounding almost eager for some reason, "So...how was it? Did my ickle little sister scare you off with her gross kissing skills? Or are you just THAT scared of kissing someone?"

Glaring at the elder Evans sister, Severus quickly retorted, "It wasn't like that! I just didn't want her to tell everybody; that's all! Mary wouldn't want to hear-" Severus quickly cut himself off, but it was too late. Petunia had clearly heard him.

There was a brief pause as Lily's sister seemed to digest the information, but soon her grin turned feral. Looming over him, her eyes turned as frosty as her tone as she spoke coolly, the pink tinge gone completely, "So...planning on cheating on Lily already I see, and with a-"

"It's not like that!" Severus shouted, interrupting Petunia's sharp-tongued rant. Mumbling slightly, he said quietly, looking away from Lily's sister in shame, "It's just...I didn't mean to kiss her. She was just so...so beautiful, and I couldn't stop myself..." Seeing Petunia's face soften, he pleaded to her, "I don't know which one to choose, Lily or Mary, Mary or Lily. I don't know! I wanted...I wanted to decide which one I wanted before I did anything past hugging, let alone snogging Lily! Why do you think I've been hiding in my room for the past few days!?"

"Well, Lily said that it might have something to do with how you almost beheaded a man, survivor's guilt or whatever. You don't really seem the type though." Petunia said with a shrug, reminding Severus for a moment of how she had treated him in previous years, with her seemingly endless sneering disdain. He couldn't blame her though; she was right about the lack of guilt. He had already killed close to a half-dozen after all, back before the school-year started.

Petunia's voice then turned almost tender, and she put a warm hand on his shoulder as she spoke, "Severus, it really isn't worth agonizing over it so much. Just go and have fun with them, dating one of them if you want to, and just hanging around them if you don't. Don't spend an eternity agonizing over the right choice." She then smirked, chuckling as she said, "Besides, you ARE only fifteen after all. It's not like you'll die if you choose the wrong one to date!"

Laughing as she walked out of the room, Petunia called back, "Oh, and I was supposed to ask you if you wanted to play Monopoly with us tonight. I suggest you do it. It's gotta be better than hanging around in your room, AS USUAL."

Severus thought for a moment before nodding and following Petunia. He still was a bit leery about her, but the girl did have a good point...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Monday January 9th, 1976_**

Arcturus nervously walked up the steps to the summer home that Selene was staying at over the holidays. Ever since he had transferred from Hogwarts to his new school, Grungess, she had become very distant with him; in fact, he hadn't seen her for weeks. No-one in her family had been willing to put her in touch with him, although that might have been simply because her brother didn't care much for him.

However, yesterday he had received an owl from her, asking him if he would come to meet her here today. As such, here he was, slowly walking toward the brightly painted home--an great source of irony for anyone who had any sort of acquaintance with the Malfoy family. Perhaps that had been the point of buying it in the first place, as no-one would expect a home that appeared to be a solid block of gold to be one that the Malfoys owned, as bright and garish colors were the exclusive domain of the Potter family after all.

Still, apart from the bright colors, the rest of the property was clearly that of a Malfoy-esque home--cold, pale beauty in every square foot of the marble walkways, not a single flower in sight among the perfectly-manicured dark green hedging. 'It certainly seems to be something quite like what Selene would like.' Arcturus mused, slowly walking up to the gold-painted double-doors. 'It has all the appearance of icy royalty from outside, but there is an element of strangeness in the center, out of sight of the common viewer...'

However, as interesting as those thoughts were, they did little to distract the former Slytherin from the concern he was feelin. Selene's message had been short and to-the-point, very different from her usual messages which always had a sense of warmth to them in spite of the endless formality. Between that and her reticence to see him the past few weeks, he couldn't help but imagine that she only wanted to see him to tell him something horrible, like she was seeing someone else or was dying...

Deciding that it was best to do something, sitting around and waiting not being his style, Arcturus swallowed his nervousness and made use of the knocker. It was shaped like a lion with a metal ring clutched in its jaws, fitting perfectly with the painful-to-view Gryffindor decor.

The knocker made a roaring sound reminiscent of the animal it was a copy of, the blast of noise echoing across the property, causing several nearby birds to frantically fly past Arcturus in desperate bids to escape. It lent even more to the strangeness of the atmosphere...

Shivering slightly, Arcturus waited for his girlfriend to let him in, starting to feel rather annoyed at the run-around. He swiftly embraced the emotion, as it helped him to avoid thinking about his worries for their relationship...

He didn't have to wait long, as Selene soon appeared at the door, serenely smiling in that way that Arcturus knew was only a mask for her true thoughts. Having been in a relationship with her for nearly a year now, he could tell that she was suppressing something that seemed like...worry. Unsure of what to do, he tentatively offered her his hand and softly said, "Hey."

"Hello...Arcturus." The blond-haired beauty's response was equally soft, if somewhat cold. However, she held his hand lightly, pushing it away from her body as she gestured inside of the un-Malfoyish home. "Come inside... We need to talk."

He allowed her to lead him inside the warmly decorated home, something which seemed ironic given how worried he was. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it; it was just too strange for Selene to act this way. While she was always in control, even when she wasn't dominating the situation, she had always been very open around him. Why was she acting so cold and closed-off now?

They made their way into the sitting room, which had no less than five inviting orange chairs ready and waiting for them to sit in them. A glass coffee table sat in between them, with a single pot of tea resting idly on a coaster and two steaming cups already laid out on wooden coasters of their own.

Taking the opportunity to prepare himself, as he was getting quite worried because of Selene's behavior, Arcturus made a show of settling himself comfortably into the chair he selected. Selene, in that way of hers that always reminded him of a veela somehow, lowered herself into her seat gracefully, completely unruffled. Mirroring each other, the couple then reached for their cups of tea at the same time and began sipping, neither taking their eyes off of the other.

After nearly a minute of this, during which Arcturus began to feel quite perturbed from her endless staring, Selene spoke in a tone of sadness and disappointment, "Arcturus...how could you? How could you betray us, betray ME like how you have?"

"I...I didn't... You know, don't you?" Arcturus finished quietly, realizing that Selene must know about how he had joined _Aduro Terranum_.

She nodded once, tears in her eyes as she whispered out, quietly at first but with growing force, "How could you join the sides of those...those monsters!? Don't you know what they're trying to do? They're trying to destroy everything that separates us from common MUGGLES! Not only that, but they're trying to kill everyone we love, like they're Mudblooods too! They've already given out so many of the secrets of wizard-kind to those pieces of dirt, shattering all of our traditions in the name of taking everything from US, the chosen ones of the wizarding world! AND YOU'RE HELPING THEM!"

Suddenly, her teacup shattered, and Selene started to cry. "Why, Arcturus? Don't you remember how you promised me, promised me that you would do whatever it took to protect our world from those vermin? You said that you'd make their blood rain if it was necessary to stop them, and now you're on their side... They...they nearly killed my brother, and you're...you're trying t-to help th-them..." She then looked him straight in the eyes, glaring hatefully. "How could you, Arcturus? HOW COULD YOU!?" she screamed at him, before going silent, save for her hiccuping sobs.

Arcturus winced, guilt filling him as he looked sadly at his girlfriend. He had only joined for the sake of his friendship with Severus; he hadn't meant to..."I...it's not like that, Selene. I just wanted...I wanted to..." He trailed off, not knowing how to say it to her. As Selene's tears fell down from her face, her nose starting to run like it always did when she was like this, Arcturus found that he could only whisper, "I'm sorry..."

As Selene looked at him with broken eyes, Arcturus started to realize the price of keeping his honor and Severus' friendship...might just be too much for him to pay, if it required him to forsake right and wrong to do so...

**_

* * *

_**

**_Three Days Later Thursday January 12th, 1976_**

Lily sighed as she walked with Severus to his family house, where they had agreed to meet with Mary and Celeste and Floo to Hogwarts. They hadn't wanted to take any chances with running into another set of Death Eaters at King's Cross, not after Severus and Mary had been ambushed like they had last week. Unfortunately, while Apparition was the safest and probably best option, it would have led to awkward questions if anyone had found out; after all, as Severus himself had pointed out, Lily wasn't supposed to know how to Apparate.

Lily looked up at Severus' face, which was taut with concentration, much like it had been for the past week. He'd periodically look furtively at her, eyes hidden beneath his low-hanging fringe, then start mumbling under his breath. It was starting to drive Lily insane with worry, especially as she knew why he was acting the way he was... 'At least it distracted Mum from her anti-war tirades... She may have a point, but she doesn't realize just how bad it would be if Voldemort won. Still...'

After she had told Severus how she felt about him last week, Lily had dared to hope that he would instantly go out and date her, much like James had in both this life and the previous one. However, as she was strongly reminded of again and again, Severus was not James in any real way, save for in the fact that he loved her. Even knowing this, the lack of communication the past week from her best male friend was particularly painful, but Lily endured.

For all of his good sides, Severus' biggest flaw in Lily's opinion was generally that he was slow to act when it came to people, as even now he was frequently prone to a great deal of self-doubt and fear. All of this was compounded by the fact that Severus, for all his bravery and passion, was rather prone to letting other people make decisions for him. Even though he had changed in some ways in this life, mostly for the better, that didn't mean that he wasn't still governed partially by his flaws.

"Um, Lily?"

In her past life after all, whenever they had had problems, Severus had generally done nothing but watch sadly and hide his thoughts and feelings. Even when the proverbial make-or-break moment of their friendship had happened, he had chosen to simply let her walk away rather than admit how much he cared about her. There were exceptions of course, such as how he had chosen to change sides when he found out about the danger she was in, but generally he had been quite passive.

"Lily!?"

Lily was admittedly rather afraid of having such a thing happen again, with Severus refusing to make a decision until someone with a stronger will made the decision for him. After all, although Mary hadn't done anything too direct yet, she would sooner or later; when she did go on the warpath, it was quite possible that he would fold before her, ending up with her rather than making a choice for himself.

It was for that exact reason that Lily had been very careful not to pressure the boy, although she had admittedly pumped Petunia for all the information she could get. She didn't want Severus to choose her, then regret doing so. 'He's already had one lifetime he regretted thanks to me; I won't let it happen-'

"LILY!" shouted Severus into her ear, causing Lily to jerk in surprise. This resulted in her tripping and landing on top of her companion, and they crashed to the sidewalk in a painful heap. Severus then groaned slightly, muttering to himself sarcastically, "And people wonder why I dislike surprising her. Just typical."

Blanching in embarrassment even as she let out a short giggle at Severus' exasperation, Lily decided to get up...slowly, taking her time to feel Severus' body warmly pressed against her own. Standing once more and letting Severus scramble to his feet, Lily allowed herself a smirk; she could almost feel Severus' face heating up even from ten feet away. 'He might have had Mary as a girlfriend, but he's still my Severus...' mused the girl fondly.

Coughing slightly, Severus then said awkwardly, a touch of pink still gracing his face, "Anyway, I was trying to ask you if..." He paused for a moment, seeming to be searching for words. "...if you might want to err...spend Saturday together." His voice then dropped to a whisper as he continued hesitantly, making it sound like he was questioning what he was saying, "It would be like...like a d-date?

Lily blinked in surprise; after her worried pondering over the subject a couple minutes ago, it seemed rather anti-climactic, almost like ending a novel with 'Oh, by the way, the hero and heroine ended up together'. Still, she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. With Severus watching her with bated breath, clearly worried as to her answer in spite of her confession of love to him, Lily replied with a wide grin, "Yes, Sev, I'd really like that."

Severus let out a relieved sigh, then said in a much calmer tone of voice, "That's good. Meet me at the entrance to the Great Hall at..." He seemed to think it over for a moment. "...noon. Don't bring a lunch. OK?"

Lily nodded, and the two started walking again, both with a bit of a spring in their steps. Severus especially seemed to have had a large weight taken off of his bony shoulders, something which made Lily smile mentally. 'He's had more than enough stress put on him; I'm glad that this is one thing he doesn't need to worry about-'

"Hey guys!" Celeste's voice suddenly broke into Lily's thoughts. "I'm glad to see you've made it here OK!"

Lily frowned at the girl's perkiness, confused at how a girl who had just killed someone could be so...upbeat. 'It just doesn't make sense... She shouldn't be sounding nearly this...normal.' She turned to respond, only to be frozen in shock at the sight of her other best friend. 'Wow, Mary looks really, REALLY good today!'

And indeed, while Mary wasn't fully dolled up or anything like that, only making use of the lightest amount of make-up, her appearance had changed drastically. Her hair had been mostly tamed, only curly instead of bushy, but she had changed the layout of her school clothing a bit; instead of it mostly covering up her body, it seemed to frame it, emphasizing her voluptuous figure.

As eye-catching as her physical change was though, the way she was carrying herself was what Lily noticed the most; Mary seemed to exude confidence and flirtatiousness to the point that even Lily had to blush. It wasn't that Lily hadn't seen her act this way before, but it had never been to this level. Severus seemed to have become frozen, eyes completely fixed on the busty brunette. 'Wow...'

Seeming to notice their attention, Mary smirked, before saying , "And it's nice to see you too, Sev. Lily too. How've you been?"

Voice cracking slightly, Severus spoke, "We...we've been good, how about you, Mary?"

Celeste smiled mischievously, before turning and whispering something in her adopted sister's ear. Mary gave her sister a reproachful glare, face going slightly pink at something Celeste had said. The grinning blond then flounced into the building, her peals of laughter echoing in the wind around them

With Celeste gone, Mary then cleared her throat, her voice then turning more grave as she spoke in a low tone of voice. "Guys, we need to talk about what's going on when we get the chance. The Death Eaters have made it quite clear what they think of the D.E.S.A. and it's bad, REALLY bad."

Severus seemed to draw himself up, looking around furtively, then said quietly, "How bad are we talking, Mary?"

Mary's face suddenly seemed made of ice, so cold and stony it was. "Let's just say that they weren't just going after us last week; they were trying to take out most of the leadersh-"

Suddenly, Mary's voice was cut out by a scream from inside the house. Springing into action, Mary hurtled inside, Severus and Lily right behind her.

What they saw when they entered was far worse than anything they could have expected, not for what it was, but for what it implied...

**Author's Note: **Sorry for both the LONG period without posting, and the giant cliffie. I've been trying to finish up some other fics and start on a new one ('Cursed to Relive' for those who are wondering). I'll try to post more frequently, but don't expect too much.

In regards to the Mulciber-Selene scene I show: remember, just because the Death Eaters may be the wrong side, that doesn't mean that it's impossible for them to be human too.

As for the romantic pairing stuff...you'll just have to read on=). I'd like to break at least 10 reviews per chapter on average if you please=). I'll be trying to catch up to all of the reviews left in the past few months that I haven't responded to yet. I apologize for taking so long!

Again, sorry for the cliffie!

_This Chapter has been betaed by the brilliant Anachronistic Anglophile. Thanks!_


	56. Of Death and Madness

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 56**

**Of Death And Madness**

_So easy to destroy, so quick to drive into madness. Her last days of sanity are already upon her..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_Thursday January 12th, 1976_**

Mary hurtled inside at the sound of her new-found sister's screams, barely bothering to check if Severus and Lily were following. Even though she had only truly met Celeste a short time ago, she already considered the buxom blond family, and the possibility of losing her already...simply would not be tolerated. Dashing into the grimy sitting room, where she had told Celeste to wait for her, she was instantly halted by an awful, rancid odor permeating the air around her.

Covering her nose with the sleeve of her left arm, Mary squinted into the room, eyes watering from the terrible stench of blood, decaying flesh and urine. Although she heard the sounds of Severus and Lily charging in behind her, only to come to a halt at her side, Mary took no notice. Instead, she simply stared numbly at the horrifying scene before her. 'By...by Merlin, who...who did this? No...who _could_ do such a thing?'

She dimly remembered the one time that she and her parents had seen the sitting room of Severus' house, when they had come to collect him after the previous school-year. It had been a disgusting sight to behold, with an ugly, faded couch, the stink of beer, mold, and sweat, and empty bottles strewn haphazardly across the floor. The place was so covered with the detritus of the man's slothful living that there wasn't even room to walk, save for in a single path leading to the kitchen.

And yet, as awful as the room had been then, what laid before her now was far worse.

Shattered glass now covered the floor, almost embedded in it in places, as if an explosion had gone off. Sprays of dried blood now stained the moldy brown couch, soaking it to such an extent that it almost resembled a gory coat of fresh paint. The ancient and cracked coffee table had been broken in two, and the small coffee pot that Severus had told her always held the small supply of Floo powder had fallen onto the floor, broken into pieces in another small, almost pointless bit of destruction.

And there...there pinned on the wall was the naked body of Severus' father, Tobias Snape, his face twisted in agony and an endless, undying scream of suffering.

His torso, the only part of his body still attached to his head, was streaked with cruel slashes and bloody gashes. His stomach had taken the worst of it, sporting a gaping hole where skin should be, with his rotting entrails spilling out through the massive wound. His arms and legs were held next to their sockets, pinned to the wall by long, rusted nails, the ripped flesh showing where they had been pulled off of the man.

Finally, above the tortured sack of flesh that had once been Tobias Snape, these words were written from the man's lifeblood in neat, elegant handwriting: _"Thus always to Blood-Traitors!"_

The sheer vileness and cruelty of the scene before Mary stunned her. She had seen many horrible things in the past year or so, _done_quite a few of them as well--practicing the execution of pitiful, pleading Death Eaters did much to harden one's heart to the sights of death and gore. And yet, she had never seen anything so...

"Pointless..." whispered Mary in numb horror, barely noticing the sticky warmth trailing down her robes as Severus threw up at her feet. "What kind of monster, what kind of sick freak could do such a thing...? Even amongst the worst of Death Eaters...this is obscene!"

"Lestrange," Lily's voice interrupted, as cold and flat as Mary had ever heard her. "This is her handiwork I think. Bellatrix always did like to torment her prey; this sort of...monstrosity would be something that she would really,_ truly _enjoy." She then turned to Severus and whispered sadly, "I...I am truly sorr-"

Severus, kneeling on the ground from where he had vomited, held up his hand, silencing Lily's. Standing up slowly, he then spoke in a quiet voice, muffled slightly by some indecipherable emotion,

"Don't be sorry for me... My father was a vicious, brutal man who deserved nothing more than to die a painful death, both for what he did to me and what he did to my mother. I swore to myself that one day I'd make him pay for what he did to us, finally get my revenge on him...kill him and see him rot on that blasted couch of his, laughing joyously... Sometimes I even hoped that my Death Eater pals would help me by ridding the world of SCUM like him...like you always said they would."

He then chuckled, his laugh pitched far too high to be even remotely normal. "...so why aren't I happy to see that he finally got what he deserved? I should be _thrilled_, positively _hysterical _to see that he suffered so much..."

Severus paused for a moment, then clenched his right hand into a fist as he spoke, "Why should his death matter to me...?"

There was a pregnant pause, then Lily pulled Severus over to her, hugging him gently. Mary quickly rushed over to do the same as Severus gritted his teeth, clenching his fists so tightly that Mary could see them starting to bleed.

Her arms around Severus' waist, Lily then looked up into his dark eyes and said quietly,

"Severus, it's because you care."

* * *

_"Hey again, Tom. How've you been lately? I don't know about you, but today was really strange for me..."_

_"How so, my fair lady? What happened to make it so abnormal?"_

_"You know how Mary and I were planning to meet up with Severus and Lily over at Severus' place so we could Floo to Hogwarts? Well, we found Severus' dad there, MURDERED! The Aurors said that it must have happened during that huge strike on Aduro Terranum about a week ago, you know the one where the Avery tried to...get me again?"_

_"That must have been terrible, milady. A corpse left alone for nearly a week...disgusting."_

_"I know! And it was all cut up, blood spilling everywhere!"_

_'I'm truly sorry you had to see that, Lady Celeste. It certainly sounds like your day was far too exciting for your tastes-"_

_"And that's not even the worst of it! Guess what? Lily's apparently some reincarnated time-traveler, from the future! It appears that she comes from a future where Voldemort was defeated by a blood charm and an infant, AN INFANT! I could die laughing at the thought of such a thing!"_

_"That's...that's very interesting... Please, DO tell me more."_

_"Well, Mary told me that Lily was..."_

* * *

**_Two Days Later Saturday January 14th, 1976_**

Doing her best to ignore the hatefully glaring peers surrounding her, Lily sighed as she checked her watch for what must have been the tenth time, receiving the same message as before. It was almost five past noon, and Severus hadn't shown up yet. 'I wonder if he's standing me up for our date...not that I'd be surprised, given what happened. We haven't talked about it anyway...or anything much for that matter.'

Indeed, after they discovered his father's body when they went to Severus' home, he had been noticeably...absent; he had stopped attending any classes at all from what Lily could see, not even bothering to go into the Great Hall for meals. Even Mary, who bloody LIVED in his dormitory, had barely seen him at all.

Of course, that didn't mean a whole lot considering the news that she had given Lily and Severus after the gruesome scene at Severus' house. Mary had been extremely busy handling _Aduro Terranum _business in the wake of the murder of the leaders of both the other branches of the organization, as well as their whole families. As Mary herself had put it:

_"They were trying to cut off the head of my organization before DESA became official, terrifying the body into submission in the process. It's very lucky that you and Celeste were there to fight right then, or Severus, myself and my entire family would have been butchered like sheep."_

It was a horrible event indeed, but Lily was far more concerned by how it had affected Severus, especially with how he had discovered his father's murder a mere two days ago. From what she had heard, Severus had been given a free pass from classes for the next couple of weeks in light of the tragedy, courtesy of Dumbledore.

Although the idea had been to help and give Severus some time to grieve, it only seemed to assist him in his sudden quest to avoid any semblance of human contact... "And it's not as if he needs the help," muttered Lily grimly. "He does just fine on his own after all..."

"Who does just fine on his own? Sorry I'm late..."

Lily whirled around at the sound of Severus' voice, seeing him come out of a nearby secret passage with his face neutral and eyebrow raised. It seemed as if he had decided to come for their date after all. He was dressed in his best robes, which was actually quite good thanks to the help provided by the MacDonald family. He was even carrying a...

"A red rose?" asked Lily in puzzlement, frowning. Severus knew very well that her favorite flower was the pink petunia, so him giving her a thornless red rose was rather... "Strange."

Severus frowned as well, before saying in a voice that had a slightly odd tone to it, "I thought that...perhaps you would prefer to receive something like this for our first date, you being a girl and all. Besides, I was late and I wanted...wanted to give you something to make up for it." He then looked down, before saying in that same strange voice, "If you would prefer something else though, I guess that would be alright..."

Lily wasn't quite sure what to feel, so she settled for slowly nodding and taking the flower. After giving it an almost obligatory sniff, as custom demanded, she smiled at Severus before putting tucking it in behind her ear. She knew that it would look horrible with her hair, as it was so similar in coloration that it seemed almost identical, but then Severus wouldn't know any better. Still, she would have preferred that their first date start off better than this one appeared to be going, with Severus seeming rather off...

Nonetheless, she gave Severus a nod of approval, before asking with a small smirk, "So, lead the way Mr. Snape. You're the one in charge of this date after all."

"Very well, Lily, let's get going." muttered Severus, sounding tired, a frown on his face as he started to guide her to...the kitchen, if Lily's memory served her correctly. A nearby Gryffindor girl stuck her tongue out at Lily as she and Severus, mouthing 'Slut' and grinning mockingly. Severus gave the girl an almost half-hearted glare, before walking slowly away, almost leaving Lily behind.

Lily's smile faded into a frown as she saw this. It wasn't so much the actions of her fellow Gryffindor, as she had had ages to get used to their ostracism, but Severus seemed...almost as if he didn't want to be there with her. That wasn't something that she wanted on their first date, not at all.

Swallowing, Lily followed Severus to the kitchens, where he had prepared what looked something like a romantic dinner. The House Elves seemed to have cleared a space for them in the corner, where there was a small, oaken table with a white tablecloth on top. Several candles floated in the air around it, suspended by magic, while the notes of some sort of classical music played softly through the air. A single pink petunia was held in the water of a vase at the center of the table, while two seats were set perfectly across from each other, silvery dining utensils already in place.

Really, it was quite the cozy little scene, and Lily was sure that if she told any of her girlfriends, they would have positively swooned at the scene...well, if she still HAD any girlfriends apart from Mary that is. It would have been a truly beautiful scene for a romantic outing, but there were a couple of things that made her apprehensive...

Lily had had more than enough romance from James to last TEN lifetimes. It was certainly enough to make her less than impressed by romance for romance's sake, which this seemed to be. It didn't mean that she didn't like being appreciated and such, but the trappings of romance were no longer very important to her.

"So...would you like to have something to eat, Lily?" asked Severus quietly, sounding almost as if he were going through the motions rather than actually being interested in what she had to say. She nodded, and he muttered something to one of the House Elves nearby before sitting down heavily at the table.

Watching this made Lily feel like part of her was dying inside, because after months of worrying that she would never be able to get Severus to have her, to hold her in his arms and say that he loved her... 'He's bored, and it's not even midway through our first date. I mean, look at him! He's forcing himself to pretend that he's enjoying our date! It's as if he would rather be alone in his room, hiding under his bed, then here with me on a...'

The image of a broken, bleeding body suddenly flashed through Lily's mind. The fork in her hand suddenly fell to the floor with a clatter, no longer held by her suddenly slack fingers. Picking it back up and putting it to the side, Lily slowly turned and looked into Severus' almost-blank, shadowy eyes.

Seeing the grim determination in them, she suddenly realized that... 'He just wants to be curled up in bed, hiding in his room, trying to get that awful scene out of his mind...and he's here with me. Even though he'd rather be alone right now, he's here, miserable beyond words, on this farce of a date with me...'

Lily felt her eyes begin to water, touched beyond words. Severus had put all of this together in an effort to please her, even though he probably just wanted to be alone in his solitude. Grabbing a napkin and dabbing at her eyes, Lily felt herself start to smile. "Thank you, Sev."

The dark-haired boy looked at her strangely, clearly puzzled."What for?"

"Nevermind..." said Lily, shaking her head in the process, while Severus lapsed back into his previous state of apparent listlessness. 'Now if only I could help cheer him up... I'm glad he went through this whole effort to please me...but it would make me a lot happier if I could help him somehow. What would help him cheer up though...?'

Lily paused, furrowing her brow as she thought furiously, then she chuckled and asked, "Hey Severus, would you mind eating some chocolate with me?"

"Err...chocolate?"

"Yeah, trust me, it'll be worth it."

"I...suppose..."

Lily knew that there wouldn't be a romantic moment for the ages today, not on this date. Although Severus had clearly tried his best to make it so, his heart was still stuck in that house with the rotting corpse of his wretched father. All the same, he had tried his hardest to make her happy, and that...that made it special.

Now it was her turn to do the same for him.

* * *

**_Five Days Later Thursday January 19th, 1976_**

"Well then, we've had nearly two weeks since the current crisis has came into being. What have you come up with in regards to the Death Eaters' current plans? Frederick, Gladys, give me your thoughts."

Bartemius' two primary advisers, Frederick Percival and Gladys Prewitt, gave each other careful looks. After a couple of moments, Frederick gave a sigh before starting in on his portion of the analysis with his characteristic pomp and self-importance.

"Well Minister, the viciousness of the Death Eaters in the _Terranum _Massacre, as the press has taken to calling it, has more than a few people on edge. As I'm sure we all know, the Death Eater Suppression Act is not something that Voldemort's cronies want be fully implemented; it changes the situation 'on the ground' from one that favors them significantly towards one where it is little more than a draw. As such, it seems that Voldemort is attempting to terrify enough of the Wizengamot that his allies within the Ministry can repeal the bill."

Drawing a quick breath, the grey-haired man continued with a measured pace, concluding simply, "His tactics appear to be working. Although the _Aduro Terranum _organization that you have built has given the people some hope, its members won't be able to enter full operation for at least a year or two, so the present situation is dominating over our future possibilities."

Her aging cohort finished, Gladys Prewitt gave a respectful nod, waiting to be called upon while Bartemius evaluated Frederick's advice. As was typical for the man, having spent the past forty-odd years in politics, Frederick's advice focused on the obvious while including a great deal of understanding as to the problems. Still... "Gladys, your opinion?" Bartemius asked, turning to his newer adviser, a woman from the ancient (if possibly mad) Prewett line.

"Yes, Minister." said the red-head, giving a short bow as she continued, "Frederick has some very good points, and he is quite correct in his evaluation of the situation, especially given our current...adversaries within the Ministry..." She then paused, her lip curling in distaste.

Bartemius could certainly understand and agree with her point of view on that; although Voldemort's toadies were certainly an irksome factor, they were no less of a problem than the entrenched establishment's dislike of the idea of fighting for the 'uncouth Muggleborns'. Then there was Albus Dumbledore and his order, who could easily prove to be enemies if his fears proved accurate, especially given how Mary and Severus had been reporting on the increasing levels of thuggery in his so-called 'Defense Association'. Whatever his popularity amongst the Wizarding population, Dumbledore's motives were frequently as inscrutable as his actions.

Meanwhile, Gladys seemed to have returned from her brief pause, and was now speaking confidently. "...However, there are opportunities in the current crisis, opportunities that I think we shouldn't miss. Firstly, what do you think about this? 'Voldemort has shown his true colors as a monster, a being of such wickedness that he is willing to slaughter children in his mad quest for power'...or at least that is how we can portray him, preferably in the Daily Prophet."

Frederick scratched his chin thoughtfully before turning and giving Gladys a nod. "Excellent point, Gladys. The Blacks and the Malfoys might not be willing to fight for the sake of those of Muggle descent, but will they go out of their way to kill children to get rid of them? I believe that the Davies girl and her family were pureblood too, were they not? If so, what would that tell those unsure of which side to join? That their choices are to join a band of murdering beasts or fight them? Yes, we could make use of this _if_ we had something to back up our own position with. They wouldn't likely join a futile effort after all..."

Bartemius Crouch frowned. This was indeed the sticking point; how could they get the wizarding population of Great Britain to support them if theirs was deemed a lost cause? It was all well and good if that they could show Voldemort for the monstrosity he was, but they needed something to give people the courage to fight Voldemort...

He thought it over carefully, then slowly began to smile, chuckling even as his advisers raised their eyebrows at him. "I do believe that Voldemort himself has done our job for us, what with his handling of the _Terranum_ Massacre."

Gladys looked at him incredulously, crossing her arms as she did so. "Please, do explain, Minister. Have you taken leave of your senses?"

Shaking his head, Bartemius leaned forward and said, smiling mysteriously, "Very well then, try this point of view: You-Know-W..._Voldemort _attacked the leaders of an organization of students, slaughtering their whole families...because he was terrified of a group of children! Moreover, when he sent an entire squad of five Death Eaters to attack the true masterminds of the organization, Mr. Snape and Miss MacDonald...they were sent running, fleeing the scene cowardly. Voldemort isn't some evil genius! He's a hotheaded fool who can't beat an army of teenagers, even when his Death Eaters catch them by surprise!"

"And moreover..." continued the Minister, really getting into the idea now, even as Gladys started to chuckle along with him. "...This gives us an opportunity to put some pressure on Dumbledore as well, AND neutralize certain...opposition within the Ministry. We send some official Ministry workers into Hogwarts, showing that we're backing _Aduro Terranum _full force, also giving us the ability to keep an eye on whatever madness the Hogwarts Headmaster has planned." Turning to his most trusted confidants and the architects of his rise to power, Bartemius nodded satisfactorily. "So, what do you think?"

While Frederick seemed to ponder this, Gladys burst into raucous laughter, finally saying with a smirk, "And I know the perfect patsy to keep an eye on him too. Dolores may be a truly nasty piece of work, but she's certainly effective at following party-line when it suits her..." Her eyes then danced with merriment as she giggled. "...And I'd love to see what Miss MacDonald'll do with her. Dolores is so proud about her heritage... It'll be positively HILARIOUS to see her have to cope with her superior being a mere slip of a girl, and Muggleborn at that!"

Frederick shook his head in amusement. "You've never truly forgiven her for that time she called you a 'Classic Prewitt-ese Madwoman' in front of the entire Wizengamot, have you, Gladys?"

"Not really, no." said the middle-aged woman frankly. "Still, although the plan could use a bit of work before it's put into place...I think that ol' Barty here has come up with one for the ages. You-Know-Who will be gnashing his teeth when he hears about this one; you can be sure of that!"

* * *

**_Two Days Later Saturday January 21st, 1976_**

The _Terranum_ Battle-tent over the past several months had seen a great deal of use from the members of the organization training within; small holes could be seen in the magically-reinforced fabric where powerful spells had hit it, and the floor of the tent was already coated with a thin layer of grime, courtesy of the small army of teenagers making use of it.

Over time, it had grown into something of a gathering place for many of _Terranum's _members, a place where they could relax and mingle without having to worry about House differences, for they were united under a different and far greater banner than that of long-dead wizards. Severus had never used it as such, but he had heard Celeste mentioning it a couple of times. However, in the evenings, _Terranum _members tended to spend time with their House members, leaving the tent unoccupied.

Lately, Severus had taken advantage of this, using the place and its training features for a far different purpose than was originally intended. Instead of using said features in order to craft opponents for him to battle, using his memories as a template he was creating something quite different...

Severus stared unblinkingly at the ugly, wretched figure before him, hiding in the shadows as he watched it laze about in its pathetic sloth. He didn't move even as the scum in front of him switched on the television, a bottle of beer clenched in his once-muscular grip, chugging it down with the unthinking ease of someone who had done it a thousand times before. Finally, he belched, smacking his lips eagerly as he wolfed down some crisps.

Severus' lip curled. Disgusted, he allowed his father to fade from reality once more, no longer a part of the image he had crafted with _Terranum's _enchanted training tent. Still, although the man was nothing more than a near-perfect replica of Severus' own perception of him, the Slytherin boy had called upon it in hopes of finding...something.

An image flashed through Severus' mind, that of a boy vomiting upon the floor of his living room as he saw his hated father's rotting corpse, and he snarled. Slamming his fist into the ground, he glared at the now-empty space where his father's image had rested. His face bared in a hateful grin, he whispered viciously.

"It doesn't make sense! I hated him in life, I hated him when he died, and I hate him even more now! I wanted him to die, choking on his own mucus even as his obliterated liver sent him screaming to a painful end, so why does his death bother me so much!?"

The sound of a kind, warmth-filled voice echoed through his mind, saying words that meant something he couldn't understand. "But why do I care, Lily? Why?" said the boy in a near-whisper, his words seeming to slip away in the darkness. "It just doesn't make sense..."

As he himself had told Lily, he had hoped that his father would die for years now, sometimes even going so far as to pray for his death. And yet when the man had died Severus had felt nothing, nothing but nausea, emptiness and... 'Anger... I was angry at the Death Eaters and at Bellatrix, but why? Why was I angry? I should have been thrilled-'

"So what do you think? Hmm, Tom?" Severus whirled around as the sound of another person's voice invaded his private contemplations, and he ducked back into the shadows in an effort to go unnoticed with characteristic swiftness. Celeste was there, not seeming to notice his presence as she walked past as she wrote in what appeared to be a...journal? That was most odd...

"Teehee, you always say the nic-HELLO!" Celeste had apparently spotted him, as her voice changed a giggle to an embarrassed squeak. Her face turning crimson, she quickly attempted to hide the journal behind her back. She seemed rather overdressed for combat practice, wearing an evening gown, and this made him even more curious as to what she was doing.

It was futile of course, as Severus had already seen it, so he merely raised a single questioning eyebrow as he asked, "Might I ask why you're so embarrassed about writing in a journal, Celeste?" He frowned, remembering a name she had mentioned. "And who is this 'Tom' fellow? I don't recall your sister mentioning him before."

Celeste grinned nervously. "Well, I'm writing to this one guy that I'm kinda er...seeing. Mary doesn't know yet, and I'd appreciate if you didn't tell her!" Severus nodded, backing up a few steps as she looked at him with pleading eyes. Celeste then seemed to relax, her smile turning into a more confident one. "Good, now speaking of Mary...she told me that if I should happen to run into you tonight, I should pump you for information about your date with 'our OLD friend'. She'd ask you herself of course, but with how you've been avoiding just about everybody..."

Severus gave Celeste a sharp glare. Coldly, he spoke, saying, "Our 'OLD friend' is something that had best be kept between the four of us! I still can't say I care for how Mary mentioned this to you, but if you must know, PLEASE do keep it a SECRET!"

As Celeste nodded frantically, putting some distance between the two of them as she did so, Severus' voice softened slightly, "As for my date with Lily, you may tell your sister that it went quite well. We had a rather stuffy lunch, during which Lily attempted to feed me chocolate for some strange reason, so much I threatened to burst at the seams. However, she then took me to an abandoned classroom, where the two of us worked together on...a pet project of hers. Really, it was quite nice..."

Severus trailed off, smiling in reminiscence at how Lily had held his hand while showing him her 'ring' project, her eyes aglow as she told him of some of the possibilities that might come of it. 'She was so warm... It was like...well, sorta like a hot shower I suppose, but not nearly as sharp...'

As he mused to himself, Celeste started to giggle. Shaking her head as Severus looked at her strangely, Celeste then spoke, asking him in a voice pregnant with amusement, "Wow, that was quite possibly the most UN-romantic date I've ever heard of! Severus, I've heard of more romantic stories in those horror movies Mary likes! I mean, seriously Severus, there's no way that you'll ever win her heart if you keep doing things like that!"

Irked at her dismissal of his efforts, Severus gave the laughing girl a dark look, saying coldly, "I'm quite certain that Lily enjoyed our date, Celeste, and that is sufficient for me. Do keep out of my love life."

Shrugging, Celeste started to walk away, but she suddenly paused, only to call back, "Oh, by the way, Mary told me to tell you that she's going to be away from the castle for the weekend, but keep it quiet."

"Away from the castle?" Severus asked in surprise, frowning at the wall in front of him. It was the school year, so why would she be away at a time like this?

"Yeah, Crouch wanted her for something. Maybe he found out about her investigation into Dumbledore? Apparently, he wants her to meet someone called 'Dolores Umbridge'."

Severus nodded slowly, although he wasn't sure she could see him. "Never heard of her, and Celeste..." His voice turned icy once more. "...do keep in mind that 'Secret' implies that everyone DOESN'T know about it!"

There was only silence; Celeste had already left, making her way to the castle, leaving Severus to ponder as to what Mary's visit could have possibly been about...

* * *

**_Two Days Later Monday January 23rd, 1976_**

She stared across the hall, watching her enemy cavort happily with her boyfriend, the girl giggling as he served her a helping of porridge before returning to his own plate with a grin. The observer glared at her, grinding her teeth as the girl flirted with the dark-haired boy.

'Look at her, so happy, so _smug_. If it weren't for her, for her little trickery and manipulation, deceiving everyone...we'd all be better off. Severus would certainly be much happier if it weren't for that _girl's_ actions...'

The girl teased her boyfriend again, letting her fingers run up his arm before allowing it to wrap around her waist. Meanwhile, the female watching them gripped her wand, barely able to avoid the temptation to hex her where she sat...barely able to keep herself from making the girl puke up her weight in blood.

'So she's the future Mrs. Potter, eh?'

The observer grinned wickedly, making an excuse about it involving the next Quidditch game when her table-mates looked at her strangely.

'Let's see if history will repeat itself...'

**Author's Notes: **A rather darkish chapter indeed, although with a couple of bright spots. Unfortunately, it might be a bit before we see the continuation of this, as the next chapter marks a return to those viewing this scene from above...and a surprising twist.

For those who may be interested, I think we've passed the half-way point of the story. It won't be ending for a while though; we've got quite a few twists and turns to come until the end... Let's just say that the gloom is gathering, and when it comes few will be spared.

If you're expecting the utterly perfect Severus/Lily romance to suddenly spring out of nowhere...well, this chapter should give you an idea of what to expect.

Something beautifully trite just isn't in the cards for them. They will hurt each other periodically in their efforts to help one another, sometimes fail to understand each other in spite of their attempts at doing so; sometimes they will skirt sadness only thanks to their deep faith in one another...

...And I don't think that they would have it any other way.

Sorry for the wait, but I've been trying to more thoroughly proof my writing...that and I've got a couple other projects waiting in the wings.


	57. Apocalyptic Inevitability

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 57**

**Apocalyptic Inevitability**

_Can you feel it? The noose tightening around your neck? It is oblivion, and it comes swiftly..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_A Place Beyond Time_**

_"I'm sorry, Uncle Harry, but I need to do this to stop THEIR evil from ever poisoning our land again. No vile scum like them shall ever again taint this world, not when I'm finished!"_

_"Rose, don't! What would your parents think!? They risked their lives to stop this sort of thing from happening, this MADNESS! What would they think of you exterminating everyone associated with Slytherin, just because of the actions of a fe-"_

_"The actions of a few!? It is thoughts like that led us to a second war! Thoughts like that prevented us from stomping them out when we had the chance! Thoughts like that led to the death of my parents! I'm THROUGH with waiting around for them to spawn new monsters, just like Voldemort, just like Grindlewald! I'll save this world with the power of the Elder Wand, even if it means your death, Uncle!_ 'Avada Kedavra'_!"_

_Then once more, there was nothing but bright green light and a rushing noise..._

* * *

Two robe-clad figures sat on a bench, watching Lily Evans' world slowly continue its unpredictable path into the chaotic shadow before it. Both of the people possessed young bodies, perhaps twenty or thirty or something of that nature, but their eyes revealed their true ages. Both of them were old--not from aging of life, but from the emotional weight of having viewed countless deaths and sufferings. Neither had lived long or in a healthy fashion, both of them for much the same reasons.

However, although their eyes were nearly identical save for in color. One figure possessed emerald orbs, and the other proudly sported brown one. That was the only similarity between the two figures.

One of them was a man, who bore ancient glasses even though he was long past the point of needing them. Although his face was marred by many small lines and wrinkles, all of them (save for the lightning-bolt-shaped scar on his forehead) were the marks of laughter and smiles, the sort that he bore proudly as a sign that although he had truly suffered through his life, he had been very happy. The very flesh of his face seemed accustomed to his hard-won joy, wanting to revolt as it was forced into a tortured frown. Even his dark, untamed hair appeared as if it were waiting for a moment of celebration so it could cheerfully fly in the breeze.

The other was a woman, somewhat shorter than the man beside her, although not much. She possessed long, brown hair that seemed as if it had never seen a hairbrush and trailed down her back in a wild mane. Not the smallest wrinkle nor freckle touched her face, leaving it seemingly untouched by any of the sights she had seen, as if nothing in life had ever truly affected her. Even the very air avoided her, as if horrified by the mere prospect of daring to trouble her. A cold smirk lifted her lips in a curl while her eyes started to light up with amusement as the man beside her began to moan slightly, hand clutching his forehead.

"Enjoying the view, 'Chosen One'?" she asked him mockingly, ignoring his hate-filled glare. "And here I thought that you admired the ol' Slytherin, what with calling him the 'bravest man you ever knew'. Guess it was only alright so long as he didn't touch dear mummy, eh Harry? Eh?"

"Shut up!" snarled the man beside beside her, clenching his hand into a fist, fingernails digging deep into the palm of his hand. "This has nothing to do with that, and you _know _it!"

The bushy-headed woman beside him only raised an eyebrow, emitting a dark chuckle. "Perhaps, but it's far more enjoyable than talking about nothing, and far more satisfying for me. Unless..." Her eyebrow raised higher as her smirk grew into an malicious grin. "...you want to talk about what's really bothering you." She then paused, waiting for a reply, but Harry said nothing. "But you don't, do you? So until then, we get to chat about your mother's oh-so-interesting love life!"

Harry's glare intensified, but he said nothing.

The woman beside him only grinned a forced smile, hollow laughter echoing from her. When it died though, her voice was quieter, more bitter than it had been before, "You see, while you were living, fighting and dying in your life...especially dying, your mother was offered a second chance to relive your life. Apparently, _her_ actions were deemed 'important', so _they _felt that she could make a difference for the better." The bitterness in her voice at this point was so obvious that even Harry heard it, and he looked at her with a bit of confusion.

The woman seemed not to notice, as she then said sardonically, "For people like her and Snape, people with lives burdened with regrets and self-doubts, that would be considered one hell of a gift, right? A chance to undo all of her past mistakes, right all her past wrongs, and make everything all perfect and happy." She chuckled again. "It's a pity that your mother still doesn't truly understand this little concept called the 'Butterfly Effect'. It means that nothing is ever that easy, not really... You should be well aware of _that_ by now."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry, an unwilling curiosity filling his visage, coloring his voice.

"Well, think about that best friend of yours, Draco Malfoy, as an example-" replied the woman.

"_WHAT!_" shouted the former boy-who-lived. "I wasn't...I would never...the hell?"

"Oops, wrong Harry Potter." said the woman with a grin of genuine amusement as Harry looked at her in befuddlement, the first true smile she had worn in a while. "Sorry, but that makes one hell of a good example of what I was saying." Harry still stared at her in disbelief, but the figure beside him only smiled. "Oh, think about when and how the two of you met. Didn't hit it off very well, did you? But it could have gone quite different in the future... Imagine what might have happened if you had run into him on the train before you got to know Weasley, or if you had taken him up on his offer of friendship..."

Harry looked nonplussed as the darkly-grinning woman continued with a smile, "Oh, not just you two would change because of your friendship, that is certain, although both of you would certainly change greatly. Snape would probably have treated you better for example, perhaps eventually becoming a sort of father figure. Weasley and Granger would, as like as not, never become friends, and Black probably would probably have been kissed when you let Snape get his revenge." As Harry watched her in silence, his brow knit in thought, she concluded, "For good or ill, it would have been a very different world..."

"It would have been worse." said Harry slowly, but with growing conviction. "I doubt that Draco would have helped me keep the Sorceror's Stone from Quirrel my first year, and that would have been that, wouldn't it? Even if he didn't get it, then no-one would ever have discovered Pettigrew's treachery, not until he went back to Voldemort."

As Harry seemed to grapple with this, thinking things over with a frown on his face, the woman continued in a much quieter, colder tone, "Maybe, maybe not. Same principle here though; your mum wanted to go back and make everything all nice and happy, but her actions have had consequences, some good and some darker than you can imagine." She shook her head, a frown now marring her face. "Most of all though, she has caused something...odd to happen."

"Odd?" Harry just seemed overwhelmed at this point, too thrown by everything that the woman beside him was saying; her appearence was so much like Hermione's...if one ignored the fact that she laughed when the girl would have cried, and seemed to lack any sort of heart whatsoever...so he just sat back and listened to this facsimile of Hermione continue on with her analysis.

"Yes, odd. For whatever reason, she's caused my counterpart and Snape to come into close contact together, and simultaneously deepened her own friendship with the girl. It's created an unexpectedly potent trinity, much like the so-called 'Golden Trio' of your reality. This has the..._observers_ on edge."

"On edge? The observers? Who are they?"

"Let's just say that the observers..." She made a grand, sweeping gesture, aiming at the sky overhead. "...think that there's something special about your mum's time-line. I heard it's because of the friendship between my counterpart and Snape. Apparently, it's similar to the surprisingly-powerful bond between you, Hermione and Ron... The friendship between my counterpart and Snape balances the trinity...just like the friendship between you and Hermione balances the three friendships."

"So you're...Mary MacDonald, right? The one from my time-line." Harry asked, seeming to only want to clarify his suspicions. After the woman's nod, he asked curiously, "If it's like the bond between the three of us, then why would they be so...worried?"

"Because the nexus created by the bond is just as strong...and far, far more dangerous." said Mary simply, a secretive smile on her face. "To understand it, it's necessary to understand the three bonds that make up the trinity..." She paused, then asked with a shrug, "Have you ever considered why you, Ron and Hermione seem so...drawn to one another?"

Harry frowned; it had never seemed important to understand why they needed each other, so long as he knew how important their friendship was. After giving it a bit of thought, he replied, "Uh, not really sure. I saw Ron as the younger brother I never had...even though he was older, and I guess that Hermione was rather like having a big sister. Why?"

The brunette beside him smirked, crossing her arms behind the back of her head and leaning back, arching just a bit. Harry blushed, as they were awfully close and she was giving him a very good view of her assets. "Like a big sister, eh? Interesting considering...ah well, you'll probably discover it soon enough. In any case, each of their friendships, much like your own, are based more on a need that only the other person in the trinity can really provide."

She paused, then shrugged. "Well, that's true for two out of the three friendships at least. The third is really a more...standard sort of friendship. Really, it's sort of like the differences between your triple friendship with Ron and Hermione and your bond with Ginny. You cared about her, loved her a whole lot as well, but it just didn't have that same 'I _can't_ give you up' thing that made up your bond with Ron and Hermione. Your parents had a similar relationship, an interesting contrast to the legendary Marauders, you know?"

Harry seemed to consider this. "Yeah, in a way it was very different, but it wasn't bad. I just liked being friends with her, liked being with her. I don't regret marrying Ginny, and I don't think my dad regretted marrying my mum either."

"True, but let me get to my point. Your mother and Snape each provide the other with something the other lacks: Snape teaching your idealistic mother about the shades of grey in the world, and Lily helping him to find peace. It's similar with Snape and my counterpart, if a bit darker..." She smirked as she shook her head, seeming rather bitter about something. "Much like me, one thing that my counterpart would desire above all others is acceptance for who she is, in spite of how cruel, malicious and plain vindictive she can be. Snape provides that, because he understands those traits very well indeed. In return, she gives him the vengeance on his enemies that he _soooo_ craves-"

"I think you're wrong," interrupted Harry.

"Hmm? How so?" asked Mary, interest visible on her face.

Harry explained with a shrug, "Snape doesn't want revenge all that much...not really." He paused, then allowed, "OK, maybe he does, but he's not the type to truly enjoy his revenge. For him, I think that it would only be a temporary glee, then he'd go back to his normal moroseness."

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Mary seemed somewhat cross at the man's logic. "But the fact remains that the third of the three relationships could easily be considered the most tenuous. Your mother may care for Mary greatly, but that relationship still doesn't fulfil any needs for either of them, and that's what has the observers concerned. You see, the creation of Aduro Terranum is an anomaly that is unlikely to repeat itself, ever, so they are very interested in trying to figure out if it's best to prune the time-line, or..."

"Or...?" Harry prompted.

"Or make multiples of it." finished the dark brunette. "Having a second significant, anti-Voldemort side is quite possibly a very good thing. The only issue is ironically your mother's love life might cause them problems...or more specifically, the bonds making up her relationships. How to put it..." Mary paused, thinking it over, before continuing in a careful tone of voice, "...imagine if any of the three friendships that made up your trio blew up once and for all. For example, your friendship with Ron. It'd be quite rough, wouldn't it?"

Harry nodded, but the bitter woman hadn't quite finished. "Now, that would be a very sad thing for the three of you, but really it probably wouldn't hurt your time-line _that _badly. Sure, you'd have a rough time filling in the void, but Ron's loss wouldn't be a critical one. Hermione's would be quite a bit worse, but probably still survivable. Moreover, without you as their friends, neither of them would be able to cause that much damage on their own."

She then sighed. "The bond between your mother, my counterpart and Snape though...that's a bit of a different story. Each of them has something very critical to the world's destiny now, with Snape and my counterpart being in command of one of the main forces opposing Voldemort while your mother has knowledge of the future. Imagine that knowledge in the hands of the wrong sort; it could be disastrous."

"Yeah, that'd be bad." agreed Harry cautiously. "I can see why they'd want to be very careful before making multiples of it I suppose. What if all those multiples had bad outcomes?"

"Exactly. If they aren't careful, then they'd only be multiplying one very bad idea. That's what happened in your world; they made a bunch of copies after your success in stopping the Dark Lord...well, at first they did. Lately, I've heard of _problems_. Apparently, your time-line and those based off of it are entering Cascading Failure-" Suddenly, Mary broke off, seeming to realize that she might have said too much.

However, Harry quickly interjected, a dark look on his face. "What do you mean 'Cascading Failure'! Does this have something to do with Ginny, _my_ Ginny, and why she isn't here? I _saw_ Rose. I know she was heading straight for Ginny and the boys after she killed me, so _what happened_! Are they still alive?"

Mary sighed; just because he needed to know didn't mean that she was thrilled with having to tell him. Putting a hand on his shoulder, the first time she had touched him since he had arrived right next to her in the afterlife, she said quietly, "Harry, after you failed to stop Rose Weasley, _they _immediately declared the time-line to be in a state of Apocalypse. It was ended before Rose even reached Ginny. Harry...she's gone."

Harry's eyes widened. Whispering, he asked in a hollow yet frantic tone of voice, "What do you mean...? Is Ginny...like my mum? In another world?" He then pleaded, water collecting in his eyes, making them even more shiny than normal, "Please tell me that's what you mean, Mary. _Please_!"

Mary said nothing for a moment, then she shook her head as she spoke sadly, "No Harry, 'gone' as in she they removed her from existence, any existence. There might be other Ginnys...but your particular Ginny is nothing more than soulstuff, who will eventually be used to craft a new world."

Breathing deeply, Mary leaned forward and whispered in Harry's ear, "She will never come home..."

* * *

As an orb of golden light flew closer to her, an angel grimaced; it came as no surprised that Khaldun was displeased at what she had done. Her meddling had been somewhat...spur of the moment, as she normally didn't interact with a world so directly, preferring her usual contingency plans.

However, in this case, she had seen an opportunity and took it. Besides, it wasn't like she was messing with free will or anything like that...not that she could, but still. She had just moved a bit too quickly is all, not checking with her fellow angels before making her decision; she hadn't _intended _anything particularly dark to happen...

Of course, she doubted that Khaldun would see it that way. He had always been a bit of the proverbial 'stick-in-the-mud' when it came to making quick decisions, saying that the angels _must _be in constant contact and blah, blah, blah...

All the same, Griselda couldn't help but wince when she heard his mental shout roar through her mind. 'Displeased' had clearly been an underestimation. It had been a good fifty-odd 'years' since she had heard her superior so furious.

_'Griselda! Please do explain what you were thinking! The 'Dementor's Soul' is not an artifact to be handed out lightly, ESPECIALLY not to those of the girl's temperament!'  
_

Smoothing down her robes, Griselda waited as Khaldun floated before her, his spherical form more than twice her size. Apparently, he was aiming to intimidate her; if so, he had succeeded. While she knew that Khaldun wouldn't physically harm her, it would be highly annoying if she were suspended from duty.

Even though it was impossible to tell, given the form of the being addressing her, Griselda knew that Khaldun was glaring at her as he 'said', _'Explain...'_

"Well, you see...I was watching the time-line like you asked..." began the angel nervously, having difficulty keeping herself from looking away from Khaldun's golden body as she did so. "...and I saw something we weren't quite expecting; remember how most of our plans were based upon Lily not confessing her past to her friends? Well, she did and Severus was so overcome by the feeling and hormones that he couldn't stop himself from having a little snogging session with our time-traveler."

Khaldun interrupted in a cold tone of 'voice', _'Allow me to correct myself; explain why you put the knowledge of the Dementor's Soul into the MacDonald girl's hands. I have no interest in their love lives, save for when they interfere with our objectives. This wasn't one of those cases, so why did you put the knowledge in HER hands! If you truly needed to expose them to said artifact, why not the Snape boy or our assistant?'_

At that Griselda snorted, honestly amused in spite of her predicament. "Sir, trying to communicate with the Snape boy through dreams would be an exercise in futility. He's far too pragmatic and pessimistic to believe that they have any effect on reality. He'd simply never bother looking. And if we gave the knowledge to the Evans woman, she'd be more likely to destroy it than even _dream _of using it! She may have grown to tentatively accept Dark Magic to some degree, but the very idea of using something such as the Dementor's Soul would be an abomination the eyes of one so 'righteous', even if it does give the bearer the ability to slay Riddle."

At this, Khaldun paused, seeming to weigh her answer. However, he soon spoke in that same, cold tone, _"This is true, but you still have yet to explain why it would be a good idea for them to have such a thing to begin with! Even if they only use it in the way you seem to think they will, Riddle's permanent death is not a requirement for this time-line to exist the 'Dark Ages' classification. Moreover, if they should discover its second use..."_

"Then I'm sure that Evans would rein in Snape and MacDonald long before it got too dangerous." replied Griselda smoothly. "If they were to truly slay Riddle without a second wizarding war, it would make their time-line all nice and tidy and ready for copying, no?"

_"That may be the case...but things very rarely turn out exactly as planned. You should be well aware of that, Griselda."_ Still, he didn't seem angry any longer, only thoughtful.

"Don't worry, everything should be fine, Sir," said Griselda confidently.

It was a pity that Griselda didn't quite realize what she had unleashed...

* * *

_Even as Griselda spoke with the mighty angel Khaldun, an old man in his tower poured over ancient journal, finally discovering the truth that had eluded him for so many months as to why a mere slip of a girl could send him flying with the mere touch of her mind to his. It would be the catylyst of his last chance...and his greatest folly._

_Soon, he would understand just how much he had underestimated the power of love, even as he had paid lip service to it, for although it could redeem someone of their darkest acts...it could also lead to an great many atrocities being committed in its name. In his zealous desire to protect the greater good, he had unleashed a pitiless destroyer who would stop at nothing to drag everything he had ever dreamed of into a hell beyond reckoning..._

_And with his suffering would come that of an entire world._

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the extremely long wait; I've been distracted and enjoying myself writing both some other SSLE fics (Cursed to Relive and Letters From The Dark especially) and a novel that I hope to publish in the distant future.

As for the situation to come between our favorite trio and Dumbledore...let's just say it's going to be rather interesting to say the least.

In Severus' time-line, things have taken a bit of a darker turn; while Lily gave birth to a beautiful son on the first of September...she died in the process, taking her son with her, just before the new Hogwarts school year began. As such, he has since become more and more reclusive, more and more bitter, and more and more nasty, blaming himself for her death but also falling to his old habits of being the snarky verbally-abusive man that he'd been in his first life-time. After Harry began talking back and being more and more rebellious as his teenager issues hit, Severus realized he couldn't deal with the boy and thus called upon the Malfoy, whom he knew and whose son was Harry's friend, to take Harry for breaks.

In Peter's time-line, bad luck has hit the world, Dumbledore fights Voldemort and loses, rendering the entire Wizarding world of Britain vulnerable. While Peter, Lily, and Severus are still in school, they begin to realize that people they knew are dying right and left, and they can't do much to stop the deaths. (Yet...) Even the anti-Death Eater factions within the school have crumbled as Voldemort comes closer and closer to his final victory.

Just a reminder, Remus' timeline has been discontinued due to the fact that he died.


	58. Finding One's Way

**The Law of Unintended Consequences**

**Chapter 58**

**Finding One's Way**

_Perhaps peace is more than the absence of pain..._

**_Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series._**

**_One Day Later Tuesday January 24th, 1976_**

Lily watched out of the corner of her eyes as Severus worked with quiet intensity, his mouth unmoving as he sat on the stiff, dark chair that Mary had transfigured for him a long time ago. Originally, both girls had teased him about preferring discomfort to comfort, to which the boy had replied with a shrug and a simple "I'm used to it."

Neither had known quite what to say after that.

Still, he seemed to be enjoying himself, his quill held poised over a simple Muggle notebook as his eyes roved back and forth over the large, red and leather-bound book he was reading. It was a journal from one of Soviet Selwyn's commanders, something quite rare given that most of them had died either against Grindelwald or from Selwyn's own cruelties.

His dark eyes coming to a stop over the end of of a page, he smirked and his quill burst into motion, swiftly marking down notes at incredible speed. Lily couldn't help but smile at the sight of this; it made her happy to see that Severus was showing signs of life after the gruesome death of his father.

She would have to thank Mary later; the brunette had given him the journal for his birthday on Celeste's suggestion, and anything that made him happy lately was well worth the price in Lily's opinion. Lily only wished that she had been able to come up with such a good gift, as although she was certain that Severus would much appreciate the results of her ring project when she was finished, though that day would be prolonged because she had been running into more and more obstacles every day.

Mary, noticing Severus' smile, threw her shoulders back proudly when she caught Lily's eye, returning to her own work. Mary's work was in the area that the three of them knew as the testing zone; Lily privately referred to it as 'the spot I will only enter if I turn into a suicidal masochist', as Mary seemed to enjoy finding new and creative ways to blow up, impale, slash to pieces, immolate, or generally destroy anything inside.

It was a normal day for the three of them ever since they had patched up their friendship, each quietly working on their personal projects but not hesitating to offer or requesting aid as needed. Their conversations focused more on work, although sometimes other topics crept in, ranging from complaints on homework and thoughts on the war to even such things as gossip and other silliness-even Severus had to fight a smirk when Mary complained about Celeste having amassed more clothes at their home over the holidays than she had managed in the past several years.

Closing the book on Ancient Runes with a sigh as she realized that the words were beginning to swim before her eyes, Lily turned to the other female of the group with a sigh. "So, Mary, what should I expect as a new recruit? You know, to _Terranum_."

"Hmm...we tend to focus more on mental preparation for combat for the new guys I think. Most of the new members know enough spells to do plenty of damage already, but don't have any idea of how to apply them," replied the dark-haired girl with a shrug, a finger placed delicately on her lips as twirled her wand absentmindedly. "You should be just fine, Lily."

For a few moments, there was silence, but then Severus spoke in a thoughtful tone, his eyes never leaving the pages of the journal, "Don't forget that Lily will have to do a lot of practice on group-fighting, Mary. She's from the future, but I doubt she's really done much like that before."

"True. Good point, Sev," acknowledged Mary with a frown, suddenly brightening as she pointed her wand at a burnt lump that had once been a target dummy. A series of orange jets of light shot from it, each impacting on different parts of the dummy as Mary threw up a silent Shield charm.

Near-simultaneously, all points on the target exploded, causing the target to suffer from an effect that Severus had once succinctly described as: 'a grenade after the boom'. Though, after months of dealing with the level of destruction typical of anything targeted by Mary, Lily was able to continue the conversation without more than a slight flinch. "You know, we worked together quite a lot as members of the Order. It's not like we were all running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The Death Eaters tended to kill those who did, after all."

"Perhaps..." replied Severus, sounding uncertain as he gave Lily a doubtful look. "But there is a grave difference between simply working together and working as a unit. Each of the groups we've formed have learned to fight as a unit, not just as a collection of talented individuals. We're basing it on Muggle small-group combat in some ways, although the advantage of having a wand cannot be denied."

"Huh...sounds interesting." And indeed it did, although Lily had some doubts about whether Muggle military techniques would be _that _effective. The fights, from what she could recall, had generally been too chaotic for true group combat. "How is recruitment going, anyway?"

Mary pursed her lips thoughtfully, returning her attention from her examination of the shattered remnants of her target. "Hmm...especially with Crouch's bragging, we've gotten a lot of new members in the past few weeks, especially Slytherins."

"Really? How odd."

"Not really," replied Severus with a shrug as he jotted down a few more notes. "Some of them are doing it for political reasons, but there are those who didn't support the Dark Lord...and are taking the opportunity to join the fight against him, now that we've got the ability to make a real stand." He put down the journal and smirked mischievously at Lily before saying slyly, "Then there are the ones who are doing it for...other reasons. Like Broderick is with us because of his crush on Mary. And perhaps Regulus has a secret or two as well."

"Wait, Sirius' little brother wants to join? Why?" replied Lily, surprised at the idea. Regulus had always struck her as one of those obsessed with blood purity, a definite Muggleborn-hater. Still, stranger things had happened, she supposed.

"I'll bet it's because of his parents," said Severus, turning his dark gaze upon Lily as he spoke. "Regulus has always been obsessed with getting his parents' approval for _everything_. If they changed their mind on the politics, he'd cave instantly. Plus, there's the way he looks at Celeste all the time... I think he might be _interested_..." Lily had a suspicion that Severus was referring to a couple other than Celeste and Sirius' brother though.

"Uh...sure." Although she nodded in acknowledgment, Lily found it difficult to concentrate due the distraction provided by Severus' burning gaze. Even as she spoke, his eyes were traveling up her body slowly, drinking in her form and lingering on each and every curve before returning to her face with a heat-filled look. At his blatant appraisal, Lily couldn't help but feel rather warm. "That sounds...alright..."

Feeling that one good turn deserved another, Lily returned his look of appraisal with interest. A somewhat lascivious grin on her lips, Lily openly oogled every inch of his lean body before returning her attention to his face, causing his eyes to widen before fastening hungrily on her own. Her whole body now starting to heat up, took a step closer, her tongue poking out slightly from between her teeth as her she felt her gaze begin to smolder. How she could have gone an entire lifetime without this, Lily had no idea.

"Anyway," interrupted Mary, seemingly oblivious to the whole byplay. "We should expect to see our numbers increase quite a bit before terms ends, although I wouldn't be surprised if half of the new members quit either. Our training is pretty brutal..." She took another step forward, conveniently blocking Lily's ocular devouring of her male best friend. "...so don't underestimate it, Lily."

Shaking her head to clear it from the heat suffusing her cheeks, something which surprised herself considering how fast it had come on, Lily cleared her throat. "Um...yeah. I honestly don't think it can be that tough for me though, not if you don't want your members to desert in droves."

Mary smiled a sad smile. "It's not because it's hard to do magically, but because it is probably the hardest thing that a lot of them have ever imagined... They imagine playing the hero in this war, like Potter and his posse; they don't realize what they need to do to win..."

Feeling vaguely worried, Lily gave a slow nod.

Severus had returned to his reading, but even he seemed rather on edge.

Somehow, Lily couldn't blame him.

* * *

**_One Day Later Wednesday January 25th, 1976_**

Quick, smooth steps left no echo as their owner strode through Hogwarts castle, his dark eyes narrowed and glaring at every passer-by as though he were going to take points from them if they did not get out of his bloody way, thank you very much.

Not being foolish, the other students cleared a path for the brooding young man as he passed, his thoughts turned inward even as he chased away anyone who might disturb him. Severus needed time to think, time alone without distractions as he clutched the letter he had received tightly in his hands.

It was a letter from his father's sister, informing him of the day that his father was to be buried (For the sake of secrecy, his body had been transfigured so as to make it appear that he had died of 'a bad fall' and not been brutally tortured and murdered), asking Severus if he might be able to take a few days off to attend the funeral.

Thoughts of the funeral inevitably led to thoughts of the man's murder, which led to Severus trying to once more figure out why said murder had bothered him so.

Was it that the man was supposedly a human being (Severus had his doubts), like Lily had claimed? No, Severus was quite certain that that was not the case. Frankly, the idea of going to the man's funeral was anathema to the pondering young man. The world was a better place without Tobias Snape living on it and celebrating the man's life was an idea that made Severus feel as if a self-_Cruciatus _would be a better one.

The sounds of fighting cheering filled his ears, and he frowned, doing his best to ignore them. He had better things to do than break up what was probably some stupid children's game.

Instead, he focused on what he had felt when he saw his father's body. There was a feeling there that he recognized, although he was uncertain as to what it was or where he had felt it before. Somehow, it brought to mind thoughts of Lily being hurt, but that couldn't be it. He'd die for Lily in an instant, whereas he'd sacrifice his father's life to protect his own without a shred of guilt.

However, Severus could tell that he was on the road to a breakthrough, if only he could get Potter to stop waving his wand around as he hexed Bode-

Severus paused, running that thought through his head once more. 'Wait..._Potter_?'

Suddenly, his father's death was the furthest thing from his mind, his anger at _his Terranum _being attacked filling him with an irrepressible fury, much like the helpless rage he had felt when those Marauders had hexed him in the past to no consequences.

Severus grinned darkly, storming toward the fray with his cloak billowing behind him, his hand leaping to his wand as he prepared himself for yet another run-in with those loathsome _Marauders_. This time would be different though.

This time, _he _had all the power and authority...

...and they had none.

* * *

"Prongs, I warned you that this was a very bad idea."

"Whatever, Mooney, don't be a spoilsport. Besides, take a look at how she's all twitching!"

"Thanks, Padfoot, it's something I cooked up over holidays. She probably feels like there really _are _insects all over her. Cool, eh?"

"_What is going on!_"

Remus winced as he saw Snape enter, a murderous glare on the young man's face as he viewed the scene: two members of Snape's so-called _Terranum _lay on the ground, having been hexed badly in a fight against the Marauders. True, they had been the ones to start the fight by trying to hex Peter's shoelaces so that they were all tangled-up together, but Remus had a feeling that Snape probably wouldn't see it that way.

James, his eyes fixed on Snape in a hate-filled glare of his own, verbally deliberated, "Well, when those twits hexed Peter, we felt that it would probably be a good idea to show them why bullying people is a bad idea, is all."

Snape's eyes narrowed dangerously as he strode toward the two Ravenclaws lying on the ground, his wand drawn and and pointed at the Marauders. "And clearly you would know what bullies are like, wouldn't you, Potter? Lots of practice at playing the part and all. Good try, but the lot of you seem to need a bit of time to think about what you've done. How about a week of detention each and one-hundred points from Gryffindor for the lot of you?"

For a moment, there was silence as the Marauders digested the points loss, but then Sirius growled out furiously, "A hundred points? What the hell are you on about! Even if _you _needed to take points away, no way that's more than twenty, and you know it!"

"Snape...he does have a point," spoke Remus, holding his hands up in a placating manner as Snape turned his icy glare upon him. "Even if we attacked first, that would be what? Forty points at the maximum?"

"Broderick Bode's leg is broken, and Evelyn Matthews' arm doesn't look much better," said Snape coldly, an eyebrow raised darkly. He then gave a cruel sneer toward the three boys and continued with a snide retort, "Besides, the teachers will probably lower it when you complain about it anyway, so if you take my unfairness against you and their unfairness in your favor, it should be just about right. Agreed?"

"Pomfrey'll have it all healed up in a few minutes, and you know it, Snape," replied James in a calm voice, albeit with clenched fists. "And we shouldn't have to rely on the teachers to make your cruel decisions fair ones! We haven't been able to keep more than a few-dozen rubies in the hourglass for months!"

"Relying on me for pity, Potter?" Snape's sneer had turned into a feral grin as he cast a few quick spells upon Bode's leg, directing him and Matthews to the hospital wing before rounding on the Marauders once more, "And you'd probably have a few more points in the hourglass if you weren't trying to hex Lily or all of _Terranum_."

"Come on guys," muttered Remus, hoping to end this confrontation before it got really nasty. "Prongs, Padfoot, we shoul-"

A dark, mocking voice came from Remus' left, making him jump as it interrupted the Gryffindor boy. "-How cute, trying to help your friends, Remus? How 'brave' of you to do so." It was Mary, with Lily beside her. They'd been standing there a while now, and drawn their wands some time ago. She continued in a tone low enough that none of the other Marauders could hear, not noticing Lily's frown as she spoke, "Not willing to stop your friends, but helping them slip out of trouble. How truly _courageous _of you."

"Mary..." Lily warned, an eyebrow raised warningly. "Do we really need to start another fight?"

"Fine," muttered the brunette girl, before raising her voice again, "Alright, you lot get lost. You're outnumbered and we've got some _friends _on the way, so get!"

James and Sirius seemed about to argue, but apparently thought better of it and left with Remus, causing the young werewolf to breath a sigh of relief as he tried not to think about what had happened...

It was easier than trying to stop them before they got started, after all.

* * *

As the four loathsome Marauders walked away, Severus followed his _Terranum _members up to the Hospital Wing, guilt coursing through him as he saw Bode trying to hobble along, leaning on Matthew's shoulder. This had been his fault; had he not been so distracted by thoughts of his father's death, he might have been able to stop the loathsome Gryffindor quartet before it had gotten so bloody...

Lily placed her hand in his as they walked along, which Severus accepted with a simple squeeze as he continued brooding, his dark feelings lifting slightly. The red-headed girl then spoke quietly, her green eyes filled with pain, "I'm sorry guys, this is all my fault. If it weren't for me, then maybe the fighting wouldn't have escalated so-"

"-Lily," Mary interrupted, crossing her arms as she looked over at Lily from the other side of Severus, her brows furrowed. "All of us chose to fight against those bloody Gryffindors. You may have been the trigger, but it was all our choices to allow the fighting to get so brutal, _their _choices too. Quit blaming yourself."

Lily swallowed, Severus giving her another squeeze of the hand as she spoke, "I know that...but it doesn't make the guilt go away."

Severus nodded grimly. Whether she was at fault or not, the guilt from believing that she was at fault would keep eating away at her endlessly. It was the same feeling he got when he had found out that Lily had been forced to watch Sabrina getting tortured, courtesy of Mulciber. The pain that had been in her eyes then-

He stopped, eyes widening a tiny bit. That was the feeling! The feeling that had bothered him when he saw his father's shattered corpse, he had found it!

It was guilt: not for who it had _been_, but because of the fact that it had _been his fault_ that the man had died.

"Severus, your smile is starting to scare me," said Lily, green eyes peering into his own as she gave him a worried look.

"It's nothing, Lily." Severus placed his second hand on top of the feminine hand he was already clasping in his own, a small, quiet smile appearing on his face as he spoke, "It's just that I finally figured something out."

"Hmm, tell us later? After we visit Matthews and Bode."

"Of course."

* * *

**_Two Days Later Friday January 27th, 1976_**

"...and so I will be observing your training session this weekend on behalf of the Ministry, if that is alright with you, Miss MacDonald, Mr. Snape. Any questions?"

It was well after classes, and normally Mary would have taken advantage of the opportunity to spend time with Severus in the absence of Lily-an opportunity that was all too rare of late with the couple behaving as new couples tend to do. It was nice to just relax with Severus, have a nice conversation and hone their spell-work together, maybe even read a couple of books about the Dark Arts (She had been hoping to discover more about the 'Dementor's Soul' of her dream, perhaps in one of her library books).

Lily might have accepted some of their...darker proclivities, but Mary could tell that their studying of anything dark made the Gryffindor girl uneasy, a weakness Mary might be able to exploit given time.

It wasn't like Mary wanted to hurt Lily particularly, but that didn't mean that she wanted to give up and _let _her have Severus.

However, today the two Slytherins had something else to deal with: the lackey sent from the Ministry, Dolores Umbridge. Over the past few days, Umbridge had proven herself to be prejudiced, judgmental, closed-minded and generally an obstacle to Mary. Mary suspected that it was because she was a Muggleborn, given how Umbridge acted almost as if Severus were in charge...and that Mary herself were an idiot.

Still, Mary had better things to do than taking Umbridge to task, as she had more than enough enemies...for the moment. Smiling a tight smile and giving the frumpy witch a quick nod, Mary spoke coolly, "Hmm...some of our training sessions are closed to the public, Ms. Umbridge. We would prefer to keep our combat techniques...private, so I'm afraid that it would be a mistake for us to accept. Besides..." Mary shifted in her seat, so that she was just a bit closer to her Slytherin ex-boyfriend. "...how much do you really want to see students dueling? Minister Crouch has been involved with our program from the beginning, and he knows perfectly well what is going on."

Umbridge seemed rather affronted, but Severus cut in smoothly, placing a cool, calming hand on Mary's shoulder as he spoke in a quiet, almost-deferential tone of voice, "Ms. Umbridge, I am sure that someone of your esteemed intellect and political stature has already asked herself this, but I find myself wondering: has the Ministry given any more thought to the 'Dumbledore situation'? I would have thought that it would be a positive firestorm in the Ministry, a career-maker even, and yet the conflicts seem to have been hushed up."

Umbridge smiled an almost-indulgent smile, speaking in the breathy, girlish tones that Mary had already grown to hate, "Well, Mr. Snape, I'm sure Minister Crouch has far better things to do than to get himself _dirty_ in a fight with an aging school-teacher such as Dumbledore. As such, he's probably waiting before he can _do _something about it, rather than touch off a great mess."

"And yet," interjected Severus smoothly, bowing his head in serene deference, "wouldn't it be of a great help to both the Minister and the Ministry besides if someone was able to give him some...on-the-ground information? I mean, Dumbledore's busily building this 'Defense Association' of his... What's that about? I wonder..."

It was obvious to Mary's eyes that Umbridge suspected that Severus was trying to manipulate her, but the naked greed in the older woman's eyes was impossible to miss as she replied in a condescending tone, "Perhaps, Mr. Snape, but it isn't something that school children should concern themselves with, I think." Mary felt her eyes tighten with anger at those words, but Umbridge continued without noticing, "Oh well, I'm afraid I must be off. Important Ministry business to take care of, so farewell, children."

And without further ado, Dolores Umbridge gave a quick, short curtsy, adjusted her bow, and bustled off, leaving the two Slytherins alone in her wake.

"Well, that was 'fun'," said Severus with a scowl. "I almost wish that she were a Death Eater so we could just kill her and be done with it, no more 'school children shouldn't do this and that'." His scowl then turned into a dark smile as he stood up, stretching his back after the afternoon's discussion. "Maybe Dumbledore'll get annoyed by her enough to do the job for us, do something good for a change."

"Hope so, then Dumbledore'll be in Azkaban before he can say 'lemon drop'." Mary paused and smiled, imagining Dumbledore suffering under the Dementors' sway, tortured whimpers being ripped from the ancient, bearded wizard again and again until finally he stopped moving. Shaking her head, she returned her focus to Severus, carefully placing a hand on his back as she spoke, "However, we have more pressing business. The harassment towards Lily's continuing, just as virulent as before. Apparently those _Gryffindors_ refuse to admit that she's not an evil Death-Eater-in-training, no matter what she's done to the Dark Lord's forces."

Severus nodded, the tight set to his jaw telling Mary better than words could just how well he could relate to that. No matter what he had done, most of Mary's former house-mates had spent the past several years claiming that he _had _to be some kind of scumbag, even if or perhaps especially because he hadn't done anything.

However, he remained silent, so Mary continued, "Worse yet, something's holding up the transfer that we were trying to fix Lily up with. You know, the one where she lives in a room other than the one up in that rat-trap called Gryffindor tower." Sliding her hand around his back, Mary drew Severus into a position seated beside her without the boy's notice as she spoke. "I think that Dumbledore might be behind it, but I don't know what's his game yet."

Severus' eyes darkened, but he still said nothing, his brow furrowing as he unconsciously snuggled into Mary's arm. The brunette girl couldn't help but smile fondly at this-while Severus might never be the sort of person comfortable with discussing feelings with someone, he seemed to greatly enjoy the simple comfort of being held, much like a wounded puppy.

Finally, Severus spoke, dark anger suffusing every syllable, "Perhaps he wants to hold something over her head_, our_ heads. It's the sort of thing that he would like, given the opportunity. How're those legal investigations going, anyway? Any luck in finding something we can hit him with?"

Turning her head so that Severus could look right at her, her face barely a foot away from her own, Mary whispered as she stared at his eyes, "Unfortunately, it appears that we've hit a bit of a block with that. Most of Mulciber's legal team are a bunch of incompetants, especially that Hubert fellow, but Ms. Skeeter told me that she might have come across something: an old family friend of some sort. I'm waiting for any sort of news about it..."

However, Mary was no longer paying particular attention to even the situation with Dumbledore, far too engrossed with how her lips were inching towards Severus'. At this point, she no longer knew whether it was Severus moving closer or she herself, she only knew that her mouth needed to make contact with that of the boy sitting beside her. It _had _to.

"Yes, well..." Severus trailed off as he realized his position, his eyes boring into hers, her arm around him, and his lips inches away from her own. The world around them seemed to still, the air itself watching with bated breath for something to happen, for Severus' delicious lips to taste Mary's own once again.

For a moment, it seemed as if Severus were about to bridge that tiny gap between the two teenagers, but then he shook his head and sighed, muttering something under his breath as he carefully extricated himself from Mary's embrace. Backing away several feet, he spoke quietly, "I'm going to go for a walk. I'll see you later...Mary."

With eyes not watching her own, Severus put action to words and opened the door, quietly closing it behind him as the brown-eyed girl watched.

Eyes watering with hot tears, Mary returned her attention to her plots and plans, a sense of loss creeping through the room as she returned to work.

It wasn't for some time that she picked up the latest treatise on ancient artifacts, whereupon she finally found a tidbit of what she sought to know about the Dementor's Soul...

..although she didn't understand why it could possibly be of any value in slaying Voldemort. After all, for what possible reason would one wish to destroy someone's soul after their death?

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I dunno if I'll be speeding up too much, but this fic will eventually reach the end...hopefully.

In the meantime, let's just say that things are about to pick up.


End file.
